Hollow
by rembrandt
Summary: I was much further out than you thought and not waving but drowning. complete
1. 5 Minute Hallway

_Where am I?_ The petite girl thought as she ambled down the dark hallway, using the wall as a guide. All she could remember was falling into a deep sleep. She had woken up in a bare room with some type of metal attachment above her eyebrow.

Her first thought: she had been kidnapped…yet again. She seemed to have had a habit of doing that in her younger years, but she had thought that she had left that past behind. She certainly hadn't been sitting on her ass for three years. _No, I haven't_. She chuckled bitterly. This girl had tired of men finding the need to rescue her. It hadn't been that way when she first became a ranger. Yet somehow, she had fallen into a stereotype of damsel in distress, and she had never gotten out of that rut.

Sometimes she wondered if that was the majority of the reason why she left. She knew that she had a dream; she had to fulfill that dream, but had there been more? Was it the need to prove to herself that she was still the independent girl she thought she had been before?

If she hadn't been able to protect herself before, she definitely could now. The first task on her agenda five years before was to sign up for a martial arts class. Taking a martial arts class would be the closest she could get to home. She had recently given up her powers, but she wasn't willing to feel completely powerless. Not when it had been such a big part of three years of her life. _Besides, you were never really adequate for the role anyway. What did _you_ do to benefit the team? Everyone else did their share and more._

She stopped abruptly when she saw a ray of light five feet in front of her. In the light, she could see an object on the wall. She jogged to the wall. A mirror. She tucked a strand of her dark, messy hair behind her ear. She looked at her reflection closely. She saw, not a frail little girl like she would have seen years before, but an independent and able woman.

The only place she really had great friends other than Angel Grove (and Switzerland) was in the dojo. She had quickly been befriended by a group of teenagers like herself: Nori, Alan, Jess, and Ben. She had found herself returning to the dojo as often as her gymnastics training would allow. Tae Kwon Do, Shotokan, Jujitsu…everything they threw at her, she mastered. With them, she hadn't felt helpless. She had learned that power did not only come from physical abilities, but also from mental abilities. The mind was the powerhouse. Her mind was capable of making her body weak; her mind was capable of destroying her life as well as others.

Staring back at her was a woman who had experienced more than any normal twenty year old would experience in their lifetime. Three years ago, she would have seen a bubbly naïve child. Now what she saw was composed and wise. She had a sound mind and that made her body a machine. This was power. She was power.

She brought her hand up to the metal fixation just above her eyebrow. It was cold to her touch. It reminded her of that Star Trek show. That Seven of Nine girl. What was this supposed to do? Was it a homing or brainwashing device? She felt normal, so it couldn't be the latter… unless this was some freaky kidnapper who was messing with her mind. She couldn't even remember being kidnapped. She would have thought her ninja training would have woken her up to something that drastic.

She tore her gaze away from the mirror and continued her walk. Whoever had disrupted her life was going to pay. And why was this kidnapper not like all the others? She would have thought she'd have been attacked by a group of putties or some new creatures. She hadn't even been tied up.

"When will this hallway end?" She muttered under her breath. Her current situation was really starting to annoy her. Maybe this is all a dream. I'll wake up on my hammock back home in Miami, Florida.

She brought her wrist to her mouth. "Billy, can you hear me?"

Nothing. Just a slight crackle filled the air. "Billy??"

_Damn_. Something must really be up.

Oh well. He would still know something was wrong if she didn't contact him anyway. They had gotten into the habit of sending messages back and forth since he had the genius idea of restoring the communicators. Instead of watches, however, Billy had converted them into bracelets that would not be as ornate. Hers had a pink jewel in the center. The system was also completely different. In some ways, the bracelets were like cell phones. If one person didn't have their communicator on, the ranger trying to make contact could forward a message.

Another thought struck her. Maybe Billy's bracelet broke, or his computer system is down. Or maybe they were having a power outage. It happened in her neighborhood all the time.

"Trini? Is this getting through?" She paused. Nothing. She tried Jason. Still nothing. Zach didn't answer either. In blind hope, she tried one last time.

"Billy? I don't know why this isn't working, but something's wrong. I think I've been kidnapped. I don't know by whom, and I don't know why, and I sure as hell don't know where I am. I hope you get this…"

The only time communications had never worked was when the team had been trapped in the old warehouse thing. That had been ages ago, when Rita and Zedd married.

Her attention was diverted when she heard a noise behind her. Immediately, her body stiffened. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Slowly, she turned around ready to combat.

Her eyes widened. "Oh my God."

A monster almost twice her height and double her weight backhanded her. Caught off guard, she fell to the ground. She gazed up at it, and decided it was definitely the evil twin of the hulk. The thing growled at her, and before she could collect herself, it kicked her in the ribcage. She cried out in pain. That definitely broke something.

The monster attempted another kick, but this time she was ready. She grabbed what should be his ankle and twisted. It flipped sideways and let out a loud roar. She hastily jumped up as the monster regained its footing. He snarled.

"What, no taunting? This is unusual." Kimberly joked. She should have kept quiet. With an inhuman amount of strength, he slammed her against the wall. She felt the air leaving her body, then the need to breathe. She couldn't. The monster took this time shove her head into the wall. She hit something sharp and felt her skin tear on her right temple. Struggling to stay conscious, she lamely slapped the monster's chest. Her efforts failed, as it swung her now limp body over his shoulder. Then her world stopped.

Her eyes fluttered. She winced at the bright light above her. For a moment, she thought she had gone blind. Then she remembered that everything would be dark, darker than that hallway, if that were the case. She felt something thick flowing down the side of her face. She was in an orange-lit room that strangely reminded her of a dungeon. As she stood up, she became dizzy and everything blurred. Finally, everything seemed to come into focus as she looked around. She froze as she saw a familiar face grinning deviously at her.

"Hello, Kimberly."

"Divatox." Kimberly's eyebrows narrowed. "What do you want from me?"

Divatox cackled. "Not from you, darling. _You_."

The former pink ranger rolled her eyes. "Okay, let me rephrase. Why do you want _me_?"

"I need help to restore my place as ruler of the Earth. That stupid Astronema has taken my place along with the Dark Specter. The only beings strong enough to beat Astronema or any other nemesis are the Power Rangers."

"First of all, you never were the "ruler of the Earth" as you just said you were. Second of all, I am nowhere near as strong as the other rangers were and some still are. Why choose me?" Kimberly questioned. She had been chosen to be the bride of an enemy but not a partner.

"You, dear Crane, have improved far beyond any other ranger. I see you've been training hard since I saw you last. You have spunk, strength, wisdom, charisma, passion, and not to mention great style. That is definitely lacking in this business. You'll make a great associate."

"Hold up. Who said I agreed to this? Did you think I'd just hand myself over. Give up everything I stand for just because you want me to? I don't think so." Kimberly folded her arms.

"Of course not. That is another reason why I picked you. Your stubbornness will be great when you are on my side."

"And exactly how were you going cross me over? Lower me into a volcanic pit again?" Kimberly stated with satire.

"How unoriginal, dear. I never repeat myself." Divatox waved her hand airily.

"You captured me before."

"Yes, but this time it was on purpose."

"You mean you didn't mean to last time?" Kimberly almost laughed. She must have the worst luck in the world then.

"Worked out better for me anyway. Great leverage. Now anyway. Back to turning you to the dark side." Divatox flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder and began pacing across the small room. "I'm sure you've already noticed the metal contraption on your face." She looked at Kimberly who nodded. "Yes, well that is a device I invented myself. When I press this button," She paused and held up a remote control. "Jolts of electricity will pass through your body. After a few hours, you'll be begging for me to stop."

"That's it? You're going to torture me into consenting." Kimberly said flatly.

"Oh, Kimberly, you do realize that it will leave your mind weak. You're body will be weak. You won't be nourished. None of your ranger friends will know where to find you. You can't contact them, and they can't contact you. For all you know, they might not even bother to search for you. In fact, they might not even realize you're gone. It's not like you kept in constant contact with them anyway."

She was wrong there, but Kimberly wouldn't inform her. She and Billy talked constantly. She frowned. But he was on an entirely different planet. An emergency could occur occupying his time, and as a result, he could forget about her. Depending on how long the emergency lasted, she could be evil by the time he realized something was wrong.

The others, she doubted would notice anything wrong since she talked to them less. Trini, Jason, and Zach were constantly traveling Europe when they weren't in Geneva. She never really talked to Tommy anymore. Not that she didn't want to; he seemed to not want her in his life anymore, which was to be expected with the way she broke up with him. She had no idea what Rocky was up to, and Adam was busy in the public life. Aisha was currently busy finishing veterinarian school, and Kimberly hadn't wanted to interfere with her studies.

No, they would not know until it was too late.

Kimberly shook her head. No, she couldn't doubt them. Her friends would always be there for her. But the seed of unsettlement had already been sowed, and it would continue to grow. She could feel the comfort and love in her heart leak out, leaving her empty inside.

Divatox saw that her job was done for now. She turned her back and walked leisurely out of the room, sealing the door behind her.

Kimberly stared at her enemy's retreating back, tears filling her eyes. This was the twilight zone. She seemed detached from the world. She couldn't hear any noise, just her intense thoughts running through her mind. She took a step back as the lights dimmed. She continued to back up until she hit a wall. The pain in her ribs increased and she gasped for air. She felt her legs giving out from underneath her. She sank down to the floor and let the tears plummet down her cheeks.


	2. Messages

**I can't believe I forgot to make a disclaimer last time. Oh well. Here it is now: I don't own the Power Rangers. **

* * *

"Fai, are there any messages from Earth?" Billy asked his coworker as he poured a cup of coffee.

The Aquitarians used to laugh at his incapability to function until he had his morning espresso, but that was before Billy had allowed them a taste of their own. Now he had everyone addicted to the tasty rich substance. He chuckled to himself as he remembered Cestria's reaction to "that one Earth drink" as she had called it. Immediately following the thought, his face darkened. His heart was still unable to bare the pain that Cestria's untimely departure had brought upon the planet. She had been a great doctor and warrior. She was outnumbered, and the one time she needed him, Billy was unable to save her.

"There are no messages from Earth, Captain." Fai answered.

Billy frowned. He shook his head as a shiver ran down his spine. That couldn't be right. Kimberly, always the worrywart, had checked on him everyday since he had repaired the communication systems years before. Everyday. She never forgot. Something had to be wrong. No, that couldn't be right. She probably had an emergency conference or her coach is making her spend extra time at the gym and she's too exhausted to have a conversation. "Are you sure, Fai?"

"Yes, I am quite sure. I will report Kim's message the moment in comes in." Fai swiveled around in his chair and looked his captain in the eye. Fai's features softened as he spoke, "I'm sure she's all right, Billy." Fai rested a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Yes, I know." Billy nodded, his face still grim. "I just have this...feeling."

"If it will put you at ease, I will locate her current position as soon as I finish this update." Fai suggested and promptly began typing at his computer.

Billy let out a deep breath. "Thanks, Fai."

She groaned. Her bed had never been so uncomfortable before. Her ribcage ached. _Maybe I left a hanger on the bed yesterday morning and forgot to take it off. _She rolled onto her back. Her bed felt like concrete. Maybe that's why she had such a horrible dream. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up.

"Goooood morning, sweets!"

Her hand froze in mid-rub, and she opened her eyes. In her vision was self proclaimed Evil Queen of Style and the hulk man from her dreams. "This wasn't a dream?"

Hulk Wannabe laughed. Kimberly retaliated with a glare. Normally, she was a morning person. In fact, she rarely ever slept in after 7 AM. However, this was definitely not the type of scenery she wanted to wake up to.

"Of course it wasn't a dream!" Divatox stated indignantly. "You should be ecstatic to be in my presence!"

"How fortunate." Kimberly said dryly.

Divatox pursed her lips, but brushed Kimberly's mordant attitude off. Hulk Wannabe grunted. "Oh, how silly of me! I forgot to introduce you two! Kimberly, this is Hygelac."

"Is he your right hand man these days?" Kimberly questioned. When Divatox nodded, Kimberly added, "Watch your back, Hygelac. She's not known to be trustworthy towards her so called teammates."

"Don't listen to her, Hygelac. I am _very _trustworthy." Divatox stared angrily at the former ranger.

Kimberly snorted. "Yeah, right, and _I'm_ the Queen of France. What happened to your pet, hmm?"

"That's not important. Have you come to a decision?" Divatox ignored Kimberly's inquiry.

"I just woke up!"

Divatox waved her hand. "And I care because...?"

Kimberly huffed. "Well, your answer is no! I won't betray my friends like this."

"But you won't be betraying _your friends_, dear Kimberly. You won't be betraying anyone. You were never friends with the villains I want you to take care of." Divatox persisted.

"I don't care. By giving in to evil, by fighting beside you, I'd be betraying not only my friends, but everything I have fought against my whole life!" Kimberly refused; she would not be weak. She added, "I will _not_ be your toy, Divatox."

Divatox's eyes, and Kimberly almost feared her. Almost. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder and stood tall. "Fine. I tried to be civil. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Divatox lifted the remote control and switched the power on. Kimberly didn't feel any different, but when Divatox pushed another button, the most excruciating pain she had ever endured filled her whole body. She couldn't hear anything except a deafening frequency. Suddenly, it stopped, and Kimberly fell to the ground. She sat up, and found she could breathe again.

"Still don't want to change your mind?" Divatox questioned.

Kimberly gazed her enemy in the eyes. "Go to hell."

"Now, now, Kimberly. What happened to your pure heart?" Divatox smirked. "This will hurt you more than it will hurt me." Kimberly braced herself for the next jolt. This time, the pain came much slower, a different kind of torture. It was like an itch on her back that she couldn't reach. She expected Divatox to stop at any moment, but that moment never came.

Beads of sweat began to trickle down her back. The world began to spin. Her body was ripping apart. She knew it, and if not that, someone had set her on fire. Her heart felt as if it were swelling inside her ribcage, threatening to break through at any moment. Her mouth opened, but she couldn't make a sound. Against her will, her head turned upwards and her arms flew back, arching her back. The ceiling turned into a cloud of brown dust. Finally, a piercing scream bubbled out through her mouth. She tried with all her might to stay conscious, but she could feel the comfort of sleep creeping up on her. Finally, she let go, and then...black.

Divatox and Hygelac observed the young girl before them, the former with satisfaction, the latter, great sadness. Hygelac forehead creased as Divatox covered her ears to block the ear-splitting scream filled the room. Her heartbreaking cry came to halt, leaving the silence. A single tear escaped down her cheek. With a grimace, he watched her face contort as her body jerked back and forth.

* * *

The veil lifted and darkness fled. She began choking on her own saliva and heaved. She tried to roll onto her side and wipe the mess off her face, but nothing happened. Panic filled her thoughts. _Am I paralyzed? _Another thought crossed her mind. _Am I **dead**? Is this what the afterlife really is? _

She felt her body lift off the ground. _I **am **dead. _

"No you aren't." A deep, husky voice informed her. _Did I say that out loud?_ "Your mind has come out of shock, but your body will take more time."

Kimberly looked at her savior. Sputtering, she almost went into shock again. She managed a slight nod to show she had comprehended. She was placed on something soft. "Here you go." He used a washcloth to clean the mess off her face and her neck, and then positioned her so she was sitting up.

"Would you like some water?" He asked, pouring a glass before she could answer.

Immediately, her throat felt like sand paper. He poured some water into her mouth, quenching her thirst for now. She swallowed and croaked a "Thank you."

"Aw, you're up." Kimberly cringed when she heard the villainess's voice. "Mentally, at least."

Divatox sauntered towards the bed Hygelac had laid Kimberly on."Tell me, how are you feeling?"

Kimberly's face hardened. She refused to say anything at all to this monster.

"_Shocking_ isn't it," Divatox grinned, "that something this little can hold so much power."

The brunette snorted. "That has to be up there in one of the worst puns ever."

"Still don't want to join me?"

"I'd rather die!" Kimberly almost shouted.

"Fine! Stupid brat. You'll see that I don't take no for answer! Everyday you say no, will be a day of more torture. You won't last a week." Divatox stormed off, but paused briefly at the door, "And don't even think about contacting your friends. There are many spells cast on this castle, so nothing will be penetrate. You can't contact _them_. They can't contact _you_. Come along, Hygelac."

Hygelac followed her, leaving the petite girl alone and vulnerable. Kimberly could hear Divatox's cackle echoing throughout the hallways. She had to get out of here. Divatox was right. She would be a vegetable by the end of the week.

Kimberly looked at her lifeless hand and willed it to move.

* * *

It had been a week and still no word from Kimberly. Billy was beginning to worry. He had communicated with Jason, Trini, Zack, and Tommy; no one knew her whereabouts. Fai tried in vain to find her location all week. He gaited to a large blue building made of glass. This was the Aquitarian rangers' version of the command center. Billy set down his coffee and rubbed the back of his head. A migraine had been developing the past few days, and no matter what he took to ease it, the throbbing would not go away.

Inside of the lobby, he pressed the button on the elevator to take him to the third floor. He sighed and leaned his body against the walled area. Aquitarians loved glass, so all except one wall was made of glass in the elevator. As the compartment rose, Billy gazed at the beautiful oceanic view. He had long since gotten over his phobia of fish, which would be obvious considering he now habited on a predominately fish populated planet. He loved where he lived currently, and he loved the work he put into this planet; it felt great to be needed, but sometimes he wondered whether it was worth leaving his friends on Earth. It was more problematical to contact his close companions, which was why he had set up the communicator system the way he did. While the ability of talking to his friends everyday was available now, seeing them was not. He could not get passed this little fact that left him feeling lonesome and depressed during the quiet periods.

He scanned his identification card and entered his destination. Immediately, he noticed Fai was in the control room. Fai was typing ferociously in front of the main computer, with a taut frown upon his face. Billy stood behind him and began reading over his shoulder. He seemed to be cracking a code of some sort.

"Fai, what are you doing?" The young man in front of him jumped.

"Billy! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in." Fai took a deep breath.

"Apparently so. What are you cracking?" Billy gestured to the computer and leaned closer to the screen to get a better look. He may be a genius, but it was like starting a book in the middle.

Fai regarded his work. "This morning I was finishing an update on the attack we received last week. Afterwards, I was checking the messages, and found this:" He clicked a button.

Billy heard a clicking sound then static. He strained to listen; then he heard another clicking sound something that sounded like a voice. Unfortunately, it was too cracked to understand what was being said. "Where did this come from?"

"I'm not sure. It said it was sent last week sometime." Fai informed his superior.

Billy's eyes squinted as he processed this. He looked at the codes on the screen. "Was this from a planet? Do you think someone else was attacked?"

Fai shook his head grimly. "There's no way to tell. There are no records other than the date it was sent."

Billy looked him in the eyes. "Which means you'll know within the next twenty four hours, right?"

"Absolutely." Fai grinned. Fai was almost a copy of Billy. The only difference between the two was that Fai had dark hair and almost black eyes. He was the only Aquitar Ranger that had not originated from Aquitar; he came from KO35. When the other Aquitar rangers on Billy's team decided to step down, he found that he would rather stay behind the scenes. So he had passed his powers on to Fai, letting him take over as the brains while he mentored. For his ranger team, he was the brain; his specialty: cracking codes. He thought of them as puzzles, just like Billy had when he was a ranger on earth.

In some ways, it was comforting to know that there was someone as smart as he. He knew that Fai would get the job done, and he could relax.

"Good." Billy patted him on the shoulder and sat next to him. "How far have you gotten?"

"Well, when I first found the message, it appeared to be only a small glitch in the system. I was preparing to fix it when I noticed that its serial number was that of a communicator, so I deleted the option of the glitch being a virus or a mistake someone had made while programming. When I finally uncovered the message, there was nothing other than the cackling sound you heard, so I worked further and found that it had been sent last week." Fai pointed at the moving various numbers and letters.

"Was it from a communicator?" Billy queried, hoping that it had been.

"That is what I am about to find out." Fai began typing at a fast rate. "We'll know in a few minutes."

A beeping sound came from the computer, and Fai grinned. "It's confirmed. This was definitely a message from a communicator."

Billy let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. It had to be Kimberly. "Can you locate where it was sent?"

Fai frowned as he looked through the codes. He shook his head. "That's what I was trying to discover earlier when I first noticed it. There is some type of force field surrounding the location that is throwing everything off."

Billy watched him work for a few moments, finding himself in a daze. He hadn't been able to rest properly since Kimberly's sudden disappearance.

"I remember where I've seen these before!" Fai interrupted Billy's thoughts. "This is _bizarre_."

"What is?" The former blue ranger leaned forward and read the codes himself. These weren't the normal symbols that he was used to reading. Instead of a series of patterns, there were symbols jumping out sporadically, and most of these symbols he had never even seen before.

"This has to be some sort of ancient magic that is messing with the message. I remember studying it during schooling back at KO35. You see that symbol there?" Fai pointed to an arrow-like shape that had a circle on the end. Billy nodded in acknowledgement. "That is a _presi._"

"A _presi_?" Billy asked with slight confusion.

"Yes, it means pry. It's some type of old Earth magic. European, I believe."

Billy gave Fai a long side glance. "So whoever sent it is in Europe?"

Fai nodded. "Looks like it."

An idea popped into Billy's head. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of contacting her before. He brought his communicator to his mouth. "Kat? This is Billy. I need your help. Contact me as soon as possible."

* * *

"Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly. Why must you torture yourself?" Divatox questioned. "However, I am surprised you've lasted so long.

"Those Power Pukes you rely on so much aren't going to save you. They have their hands busy with that good for nothing Astronema." Her voice lowered at the name of her new adversary.

"Don't you think I know that?" Kimberly returned quickly. "I know that they are busy. I have other friends that will know something's wrong when I haven't contacted them for so long."

That's what she was trying to convince herself. Outside, she was tough and calm. On the inside, however, she felt sick and worried. Maybe Billy wouldn't realize she was gone until it was too late. It had been four weeks already, and still nothing. When she had been a ranger, it had only taken a day or so before the others had rescued her. Maybe they didn't care after all.

* * *

So what did you think? Good, bad?

The torture could have been written better, and I'm not completely satisfied with it. I wanted to get the next chapter posted though. How could that be improved?

**Wow, I got reviews! People actually read my story. And there weren't any flames. Sweet :)**

**Cloaked Fox-** I never really cared too much about Kat because I stopped watching the show a few episodes after Kimberly left. I've been considering your idea but can't bring myself to write it like that, since I have a lot of the plot planned out already. Plus, I never really saw Kimberly and Kat develop a huge friendship other than Kimberly trusting Kat to replace her as the pink ranger. However, I will give Kat an appearance or two, since you brought it up and gave me a good idea.

**Funky in Fishnet-** Yeah, I like the stories that have to do with Kimberly turning evil. And this idea has been bugging me for a while now.

**majewel**- I thought about ending it there, but I have too many ideas.

Thanks for reading; suggestions are accepted!


	3. Discovery

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers. Only the idea for this story. **

To rid of any confusion in this chapter (or at least, in attempt and hopefully), the amount of time passed changes significantly in this chapter. When Kimberly appears again, it will have been about three months.

* * *

_About 3 weeks earlier_

The tall blonde looked up at the massive courthouse building in front of her. If anyone wanted to locate anything, she was hoping this was the place. She had tried London first, but she had left without an answer. Paris was her second and her final guess at this puzzle. Taking a deep breath, she stepped up the stairs and entered the building.

Immediately an elderly woman in a business suit approached her with a large smile plastered on her face. Clasping her hands together, she asked, "Vous avez besoin aider?"

"What? Oh. Uh, …je ne parle… pas français." She replied with a slightly pained expression silently cursing herself for not paying better attention in French class during high school. She bit her lip in nervous habit.

The woman in front of her grinned and nodded her head in understanding. "No worries. I am bilingual. Sort of a requirement here." She waved her arms around. "Do you need any help is what I asked you."

"Oh, thank you! I need to find someone."

"You're in the right place." She motioned for the young woman to follow her. As she began ascending the stairs, she turned to face her. "By the way, what is your name, dear?"

"Katherine Hillard." She responded.

"Hello, Katherine! I'm Diana." The elderly woman had a warm smile. "Are you from England? You don't sound American."

Kat shook her head. "You're right, I'm not American or English. I'm Australian, but I used to live in America, and I am currently living in England."

"Cultured are we? Well, welcome to Paris!" She unlocked an office door and let Katherine enter before her. "Tell me, what brings a young woman like you to Paris? You said you needed to locate someone. A boyfriend?"

"Oh, no, just a good friend who I haven't spoken to in a long time. I heard she was in Paris for a few weeks, so I decided to surprise her!" Kat cringed at her little white lie. She _hadn't _seen Kimberly for a few years, and she _did_ want to catch up with her. Still, that wasn't exactly why she was here, and she felt horrible for not being completely honest with the kind employee. "Now, here I am!"

"That is so sweet! I love reunions. I just attended a little family get together. My husband and I finally got the family all together for Thanksgiving. We haven't had my three kids together since they were in college, them being busy with work and all." Diana pointed at the three picture frames on her desk. "You know, my youngest son is single."

Kat flushed at Diana's slight smirk. "Now, I didn't mean to embarrass you! Have a seat. Now, on to business. What is the name of your friend?"

"Kimberly Ann Hart."

"Do you know where she is staying? How long she's been here? Anything of the sort?" Diana asked, typing at her computer.

"Um, no." She paused. "Well, I know that she hasn't been home for about a week and half. So I'm guessing that's when she arrived here. If it helps, she lives in Miami, Florida."

"Hmm, well, it will be difficult to locate her without any valid information saying she is here. We'll check the airport that is most common for transatlantic flights. She would have flown right?"

Katherine nodded. "Right."

That would be how Kimberly normally traveled. Then again, when was life ever normal for the power rangers? Even though none of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were in action, their lives had been anything but normal.

"Hmm. This is strange." Diana's brow creased. She leaned closer to the screen to read its contents.

"It looks like a Kimberly Ann Hart never bought a ticket for France. Not in the last month at least."

Katherine sunk in the seat. She was beginning to think Billy's suspicions had been right. Perhaps Kimberly _had _been kidnapped. That would be the only explanation.

"I'm sorry. I could call the airports to question this; maybe there was a glitch." Diana offered sympathetically.

"No, no! That's all right. I'm just going to go call another friend. He'll know how to get a hold of her. Thank you… very much." Katherine declined quickly. She shook Diana's hand and hurriedly exited the office and headed to the bathroom.

Once she was safe in a stall, she brought the communicator close to her mouth. "Billy, this is Kat. It's a no go. She's not here."

She leaned her back against the toilet and sighed, trying to think of where to look next._Kimberly, where are you? _

* * *

Kimberly wandered aimlessly down the large hallway with curiosity. So this was where she had woken up. To think that it had only been months since she had awoken in oblivion.

She stopped in her tracks. Two very large doors had caught her traveling eye. She pulled one of the doors open to see darkness. She stepped in the dark room. Light coming from the hallway and two large windows covered with drapes filtered in. Her heels clicked as she walked to the windows. Bright light blinded her as she pulled the thick heavy drapes away from the center of the window. She repeated with the other and turned around to examine the mysterious room.

What she saw made her jaw drop. She stared in awe as she turned in circles, taking in the sight. She had just discovered the castle's library. In a way, it reminded her of _Beauty and the Beast_, but a more realistic amount of books.

For the first time since she had arrived at this God forsaken place, she smiled.

The gymnast slowly walked towards a wall and pulled a small blue book off the shelf. Beowulf. Ugh, she had read that in senior English. She put the book back, and sauntered over to another section. This time, the book she grabbed was much bigger and very ancient. Once the book was in her hands, she felt a warmth course through her body despite the wind picking up around her. A window must have been opened. She looked around to see if anyone had caught her, but there was no on else in the room.

She frowned, but turned her attention to the book again. The pages were yellowed and rough. She searched for a title on the rusted red cover, but failed to see one. She raised an eyebrow. Something was different about this book, and she had to find out why.

Cautiously, she carried the book to her room and set it on her bed. She admired the beauty of the intricate designs and fingered the spine.

Laying stomach down, she carefully leafed through the pages. This wasn't a normal story. It seemed that this was a book full of poems rather than an actual tale. She stopped searching as she flipped to one page.

Okay, so this was also a cook book. Ingredients were scripted all over the page. Maybe she could learn how to cook while she was here. Might as well since there was nothing better to do. She frowned as she read the contents. As she read, it dawned on her. Her eyes widened at her discovery.

_How could I have been so naïve?_

Nervously, she closed the book and sat up. She brought her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. _Why would Divatox keep a book of sorcery in such an available library?_

_

* * *

_

"Hi ya!" Kimberly yelled as she side kicked the boxing bag Hygelac had placed in one of the dungeons. As she began a series of punches, she heard laughter behind her. Kimberly rolled her eyes and turned around to see Divatox staring at her with a grin.

"My, my. Aren't we a little powerhouse?"

Kimberly grunted and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off her face. "What do you want, Divatox?"

"Nothing, nothing. I only wanted to see how my little soldier is performing." Divatox sat down on a bench and crossed her legs.

"I'm not your little soldier. When will you get that through your thick skull? You will _never _have power over me!" Kimberly fumed.

Divatox put up her finger to shush the furious girl. "I never said you would be my slave or whatever. I believe that was _you_. Now, I think I said something more along the lines of you _joining _me." She paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "Kimberly, have you been feeling different lately?"

Kimberly froze in mid-wipe. Could she know about the Book of Spells? It had only been a week since Kimberly had found the library, but she sure hadn't felt the same since she had pulled that book off the shelf. When she looked in the mirror, there was nothing. The metal device above her eyebrow was still there, and a scar was forming around it from the many jolts of electricity she had endured before Divatox had become bored. Still, it was just plain, old Kimberly. Yet, she was entirely changed. It was as if another being was inside of her. Some very powerful being.

But she would not let Divatox know this. Even if her nemesis somehow already knew, Kimberly would not be the one to tell her. So she lied, "No, of course not."

She never had been a great liar.

A small smile played at the Pirate Queen's lips. "Really…I've noticed your manner has been changing. You have been more reclusive lately. Tell me, is the library really that interesting?" She ended with a bored tone.

Kimberly glared at her.she had been making frequent trips to the library since she had discovered it. How didDivatox know that?"It's more interesting than seeing your hideous face all the time."

"Ooh, you'd be so lucky to be half as beautiful as I am, little girl." Divatox growled.

"I thought you said before that I was stylish." Kimberly retorted as she began to do a series of yoga poses. For some reason, she was getting antsy and needed to relax. Just being around Divatox was beginning to irritate her immensely.

"Being stylish has nothing to do with beauty, although it does help. Unfortunately for you, you will never be able to follow in my footsteps." Divatox boasted, her chest swelling a bit with pride. She examined her finger nails and blew on them.

"Good, you were nothing but a failure anyway." Kimberly muttered underneath her breath, but loud enough for Divatox to hear.

"HYGELAAAC! Get in here NOW!" Divatox howled at her assistant.

"What are you bringin' him in here for?" Kimberly voice lowered.

"You two are going to spar." Divatox grinned arrogantly.

Kimberly inwardly groaned. She had only sparred with Hygelac once and it had taken her body a few days to recover from the injuries she had collected. Hygelac may not be as limber and graceful as she, considering his size, but he made up for his weaknesses with incredible strength, endurance, and speed. He was a challenge; she _had_ called him a Hulk Wannabe for a reason. However, Kimberly found her attitude changing. Unlike last time, sheadrenaline flowed through her veins and anticipation took over her fear.

She knew that in order to beat Hygelac, she had to get the upper hand immediately or she would be unconscious in seconds. Hygelac entered the room with his head facing downwards and stopped just a few feet in front of Kimberly.

Kimberly felt sorry for him. He was a prisoner to Divatox and obeyed every command even though it was obvious to the former ranger that he was never eager to do so. Nevertheless, he served Queen of the Whores herself expecting nothing in return. Kimberly just did not understand him.

"Let the games begin!" Kimberly heard Divatox's booming voice behind her. At once Hygelac's head snapped up and reached for Kimberly's neck. She blocked him and twisted his arm as far as it would go without breaking. Hygelac retaliated with a grunt and shoved her with his other arm.

Normally, a simple shove would accomplish very little in a combat, but Hygelac had a supernatural strength, so Kimberly flew backwards and landed on her shoulders with her legs extended into the air. She felt her back pop and cringed at the pain shooting through her body. She continued the motion and turned the fall into a backwards somersault. Hopping up, she readied herself for another attack.

Yet, Hygelac never approached her. She frowned and leapt at him, hoping to get the upper hand this time. In mid leap she twisted her body around to give her right leg enough momentum to kick him in the jaw. Unfortunately, as quick as she was, he was a quick thinker and grabbed her ankle before her foot could collide with his head. Since he was significantly taller than she was and did not let her ankle go, her left leg could not reach the ground and slipped from underneath her. She instantly fell to the ground again. He came down with her only to pick her up and throw her. She slammed into the wall and slid to the floor. Swallowing the scream that wanted to burst out, she stood up and stumbled a bit. Her hand found her waist as she tried to catch her breath.

She could hear Divatox laughing in the background. Kimberly glared at the villainess. What did she know of any pain? Kimberly had never seen her participate in any combat before. Kimberly stepped forward slowly and waited.

This time, Hygelac rushed at her, and for this Kimberly was grateful. It was easier to be on the defense. Zordon had trained all rangers to be fight that way. When Hygelac reached her, he swung his fist. Quickly, Kimberly ducked and kicked his feet out from underneath him. He crashed into the ground.

Without hesitation, he used his hands to spring him up, but she was ready for him now. The pain she had received earlier was now replaced with pure energy and stimulation. She grabbed his broad shoulders and pulled him towards her. During this motion, her knee collided with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

While Hygelac was still recovering from the previous blow, she kicked him backwards and charged after him as he staggered. When she tried to punch him, however, he grabbed her fist and threw her arm back towards her own body. She wobbled at the sudden contact. During this time, he grabbed her head between his hands.

She watched his head come closer to hers. Unbearable pain blasted throughout her skull as his forehead contacted with hers. As she slumped down to the ground and fought to stay awake, she couldn't help but think, _Well, I lasted longer than last time_.

- - end chapter 3 - -

* * *

**Okay, so a little cheesy at the end. I haven't ever written a fight scene before, so I hope this was all right. Hopefully, as the story progresses, I'll improve. I've been reading Pawns for help in these type of scenes because I believe Vespera has captured great moves in that story. If you haven't read it, you really should. It's also about Kimberly turning evil. **

**Daisyz- Thanks for the review! Yeah, there will be more of the other rangers later on in the story, but I need to develop Kimberly's transformation first. :) **

**Suggestions are great, please read and review!**


	4. Unexpected

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine!**

**Chapter 4**

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Kimberly leaned forward to apply eyeliner to her pale face. She was beginning to like her fair features. Before, she had only been used to bronze coloring considering she was reared in California and lived in Florida. Her skin had constantly been under the sun. Her current appearance gave her a mysterious quality. And as she applied more make up, she looked almost dangerous.

Her skin tone was not the only thing she had noticed altering. Her hair, once completely straight had begun to curl, and not the normal wave of weight as hair grew…spiral curls. Not that she was complaining. It was a nice change. Recently, she had chopped her own hair off with scissors, and surprisingly she did an impressive job. She "poofed" her shoulder length locks.

Despite her pleasure at the new look, the changes almost scared her. Her demeanor was much more cruel and sarcastic than ever before. She had been a snot in high school, but that went with the valley girl territory. Now, she was relentless when it came to behavior.

Divatox had been annoying as ever. She grinded at Kimberly's nerves the moment her mouth opened- no, scratch that- when she entered the same room.

Ere her kidnapping, all Kimberly knew was goodness and wholesomeness. Now, she couldn't even remember what true goodness was. She had been surrounded by evil for so long, it would have been impossible to keep a hold of the happiness she had cherished before.

Pain. She could remember that. Feel that. Pain was the result of beatings and combats. She could not escape pain. Everyday she suffered more and more. Divatox's commands were forever burdening her shoulders. She didn't even know why she followed them. She still refused to work for her. Nevertheless, for some reason, she went along with Hygelac's training sessions and made sure she was keyed in with the current news. The Pirate Queen seemed to trust her more now that she had been "her guest" (as she so called the former superhero) for four months.

Kimberly still hadn't quite shaken that feeling that her soul was being taken over, especially with these rapid changes taking place. Yet, she knew no one was possessing her.

She sat on her downy bed and leafed through the book of spells. Lately, she had been reading it everyday. It had become almost an addiction. She felt so connected to the manuscript and needed to learn and memorize every detail of the magical words. So far, with other resources from her library, she had managed to translate and say some of the spells. Although, nothing had happened except a few sparks. Not that she expected anything; she was no sorceress…yet.

Then again, she had developed more powers over the last month as well. She didn't know quite what was happening, but she could feel the power building inside of her.

The former pink ranger decided a few weeks after finding the book that if there was anyway she could take the upper hand and rebel, it was to gain as much power as she possibly could. So, she saved her energy when she wasn't training or studying.

Hygelac began training her a few days after that- Divatox's orders. He was the best, and Kimberly needed to advance beyond the best if she were to battle with Princess of Evil in the future. Surprisingly, she had done remarkably well. She had beaten Hygelac a few times, by chance of course, but she had done it. Her confidence was rising each day she trained.

Lac, as she would call to him now, was hard to read. He was never discouraging or malicious towards her. In a way, they had become friends- or as close as friends could be in these situations.

"Kimberly!"

Kimberly's face shot to the door. Hygelac had barged into her door and was panting from lack of breath. Her eyes narrowed. "What is it, Lac?"

"Come now!" He grabbed her thin, yet muscular bicep, and pulled her out the door. She yanked her arm away from him and frowned.

"What's the rush?" Her hand clasped the arm that Hygelac had been gripping. There was a red mark forming from the force he had used. Sometimes he did not know his own strength.

"The fortress is under attack!" He grunted. "We have to defend it."

Kimberly's jaw dropped a bit. _Under attack? Isn't this place hidden?_ Then, she realized she had no idea where their location was. The thought to ask had never crossed her mind for some reason.

"Who is attacking?" She demanded, continuing their brisk walk down a large hallway.

"They seem to be a group of Quantrons and other soldiers." Hygelac informed the shorter girl.

"Quantrons? Aren't those Astronema's men- I mean, robots?" She asked, confused. She sped up her pace to keep up with the much larger half monster, half man. "Why would another she attack Divatox?"

Hygelac shrugged. "She could have heard about Divatox's plans to overthrow her. Then again, it was never too much of a secret that Divatox was unhappy about Astronema's status with the Dark Specter."

"That still doesn't give her a valid reason to attack. She would have to have some proof that Divatox would overthrow Dark Specter himself, and Divatox is definitely not gutsy enough to do that." Kimberly reminded him. They arrived at their destination just before the front doors of the castle.

"I know." Hygelac straightened up and puffed out his chest. "But that is not the current issue we should be discussing."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. Hygelac was so formal and so much like a regular man: multitasking was impossible for him.

"All right, let's kick some Quantron butt." Kimberly stated, hoisting the laser gun in front of her face. Hygelac kicked the doors open and the scene unveiled. Before her, Kimberly saw a mass of robotic creatures attacking Piranhatrons everywhere outside of the gates. A few had found their way onto the grounds and were making their way to the castle.

Immediately, she and oversized companion charged out the door and commenced firing. Kimberly swelled with pride as she shot her first man– er robot – down. A Quantron noticed its cohort fall and rushed at her from her right. She detected his movement and swiftly kicked him back. As it stumbled, she shot it in between its mechanical eyes.

She surveyed her surroundings and saw that a large amount of Quantrons were penetrating the front gate. Breaking into a run, Kimberly shot lasers until she reached Hygelac. With his power, he was preventing the gates from opening completely. She used her martial arts on whoever tried to pass through the gate. A few Piranhatrons caught on to what she was doing and helped thwart the mechanized soldiers.

Around her, she could see that the Piranhatrons were not really that worthless of warriors. The amount of Quantrons were diminishing and for some reason there were no forces coming from the sky to help them out. Kimberly guessed that Astronema did not want to destroy Divatox, just scare her into backing off.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hard punch in the jaw. She tumbled to the ground and rubbed her face. _Holy cow. Those hands are hard. _She hopped up and knit her brows in concentration. She felt an urge to crush the robot in front of her. She reached forward, but to her surprise, the Quantron was sparking. It jerked around and crumpled to the ground. She froze. The Quantron's armor was compressing! She concentrated on it blowing up. Without delay the machine blew apart. She stared in awe as the parts fell about the ground.

Something large noise sounded behind her. It sounded like an explosion had gone off. She shook her head to focus on the battle around her. A Quantron ran up beside her. It elevated the large staff to strike her, but she put her hand up. It instantly flew backwards across the battlefield.

Kimberly gaped at her hand, examining the details. Telekinisis? She used her mind to destroy the rest of the Quantrons who tried to break through the gate.

She assessed the fight. Only three Quantrons remained. A Piranhatron pointed his gun at them and prepared to shoot, when Kimberly cried, "Wait! Keep them alive. We may need them for questioning."

Hygelac looked at her. He was the general here. Kimberly's face pleaded with him to trust her. He mumbled something that seemed to be an agreement. He began walking when the Quantrons were bounded.

"Where is Divatox?" Kimberly asked realizing that her "boss" was not at the scene.

"She is in her throne room. We will take the Quantrons to her." He replied.

Kimberly scowled. It was just like her to not show up to her own battles. The petite girl's nose scrunched up. She had just saved Divatox's end. Uck.

As they arrived at the throne room, Divatox greeted them with a large grin. "I knew you would come out on top!" She stopped when she saw the three prisoners. "What are they doing here?"

"I thought you might want to know why you were being attacked." Kimberly reported.

"Oh, right then. That's a _great_ idea!" The diva turned around and plopped down on the high seat.

"Now, tell me, Quantrons. Why are you here?" She queried in a sophisticated tone. She blew on her nails, which Kimberly snorted at. Her hands were covered with gloves.

Divatox glared at her, but waited for an answer from her nemesis's footmen. "Well?"

The three looked at her mulishly. Finally, one gave in. In a computerized voice, it informed the group, "Our Princess saw that you needed help. She read a great source of power around here and thought you might be in trouble."

Divatox looked at her general, puzzled. "What kind of power?"

"Ranger power, miss. It was faded, but our Princess thought it better to protect you, since she is in command over the destruction of the Power Rangers." It finished.

Another added, "And Our Princess detected another kind of power as well, an ancient and strong power. She felt it was for the better evil that she check it out."

The self-proclaimed queen scowled. "Just like her. Well, she was wrong. We have no Power Rangers here. And definitely nothing powerful enough for me to be afraid of." Her gaze fell on Kimberly and a smirk appeared on her face. Kimberly's insides burned with rage. She obviously did not know about her new powers.

"We are sorry, miss." The Quantron bowed his head.

"You better be." Divatox replied snobbishly. She sighed and waved them off. "Go back to space. Astronema will want to hear from you. Hygelac, you can escort them to their ships."

Hygelac nodded. Kimberly just glowered. Slowly, she stalked behind Hygelac and the Quantrons.

Divatox blocked Kimberly from moving forward on the mat that some minion was placing on the ground. "Hold on, Kimberly!"

Kimberly looked her in the eye. "Yes?"

"I'm getting tired of waiting. Astronema _cannot_ defeat the Power Rangers before me! I won't have it!"

"If she gets the job done, then why does it matter? You couldn't do it anyway." Kimberly stared at the pouting diva.

"For the _glory_! My credibility. And she just makes me so…so… _flustered_!" Divatox threw her arms down, her hands balled up in fists. "_I _was the one who destroyed the Power Chamber! And what do I get? _Demoted_!"

Kimberly raised her eyebrows. With disbelief she uttered, "_You_ destroyed the Power Chamber? How did you manage that?"

But the Pirate Queen had not heard her since she had turned her back. She was too busy rambling and throwing her arms around to hear her subordinate.

She took a moment to think. Hearing that the Power Chamber had been destroyed did not sadden her surprisingly. For some reason, Kimberly did not care. A more important issue occupied her mind. She exited the room and headed back to her room. Anger bubbled inside of her at what Divatox had announced earlier.

_How **dare** she call me nothing. I'll show her that I'm someone to fear and respect._

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Mmmk! I wrote that while procrastinating homework. Is anything confusing? Hopefully it's all right!

On to reviews!

**Ghostwriter**- Wow, I'm glad you're reading this! I love your stories! Thanks about Kat. I never really paid attention to her because I was too upset about Kimberly leaving, but I knew a few basic things about her from a few episodes and the movies. I'm glad that I didn't butcher her!

**Funky In Fishnet**- I wanted there to be more than her perspective, and I'm glad you like that too. :) Right now, it will focus more on Kimberly's POV to develop the story, but other ranger's POVs will be incorporated in later chapters. Btw, I like your username.

**Daisyz**- Good! I was hoping it wasn't _too_ cheesy. I really wanted to add it. Hah :)

Thanks for the reviews!!


	5. Another World

**disclaimer- i dont own the power rangers**

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* * *

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_Seek out the sunshine. It is a simple prescription. Avoid the darkness._

Loren Eiseley

* * *

Divatox halted her ramblings and turned around. Kimberly continued to stare at the ground, her emotions overcome with anger.

"You're friends. You're holding on to this world because you still believe your friends are going to save you." Divatox said in recognition.

Kimberly snapped her eyes up. Was that it? After all this time, was she really still hoping?

Divatox closed the distance between them. "Kimberly. They aren't going to save you. Not this time. Come here. I want you to see something."

Kimberly eyed her suspiciously as she walked towards something that resembled a viewing globe from Zordon's Command Center. "Look at this."

Immediately, the white background was replaced with Jason, Trini, and Zack all shopping in Switzerland. Trini and Jason were laughing at a joke Zack just made.

Then it faded into Aisha. She was locking up her clinic. Then behind her appeared Rocky who picked her up in a huge hug. They too were also laughing. Adam walked up behind the two and butted in. He joined in with the laughter.

After this, came Tommy. He was setting up a dinner, which Kimberly guessed was for Kat. She could see his eyes dancing with excitement. He perked up when he walked to the door to find a decked up Kat standing at the door. They embraced. Despite knowing that she broke up with him, this was he first true time she saw them together as a couple. As much as she didn't want to admit it, it hurt to know that he had found someone so quickly and so perfect for him when she had no one.

Then the picture faded to Billy. As usual he was in front of a computer with a dark haired boy. They were ferociously typing away. _Typical Billy._

White replaced the picture again. Divatox turned towards Kimberly and stared at her. "Don't you get it? They aren't looking for you. They are _happy_ without you. You mean absolutely nothing to them."

Kimberly could feel a lump forming in her throat. No. This couldn't be happening. _But it is._ She told herself. _It is. And your friends don't care._ It took all her will to keep the tears from falling right then, but she would not cry in front of Divatox. Quickly, she nodded and ran out of the room.

On the way to her room, Kimberly heard Hygelac and the Quantrons speaking in the front hall. She stopped and listened to the sound of their voices trail off as they walked towards the Quantrons' ship.

Instead of continuing to her room, she trailed behind them to catch a better look at their new somewhat "allies". Astronema had obviously sent them to take care of her, but what surprised her was that Astronema had mistaken her new power for a power ranger. Did that mean she was as strong as the rangers?

Hygelac turned around when he reach the ship with the machine soldiers and saw Kimberly walking towards them. She had just crossed through the gate and had an unsettling look on her face. "Kimberly, what are you doing here?"

"Just takin' a look, Lac." She explained, viewing the landscape. She had not been outside of the grounds since the kidnapping. In fact, before the attack, she had not known they were on Earth. Now, from the looks of the city below the hill they were on, they were definitely on her planet.

Before, she had been too preoccupied by the attack to even think about it. Now, she had all the time in the world to realize that she had never known where she had been for the past four months. She had assumed that they were on another planet, dimension, or in some very well hidden area. But from the looks of the front yard, they were nowhere near hidden.

She could plainly see the activity going on in the city, and if straining her ear, she could hear the sounds of cars honking. The breeze caught her hair, and shook her from her thoughts. "Wow."

Hygelac and the Quantrons followed her gaze. Surprisingly, they all nodded. They might be evil and taking over the planet, but that didn't mean they couldn't appreciate the land they were fighting to gain.

Kimberly surveyed the city and gasped when she saw a very familiar monument. The Eiffel Tower.

Paris? She was in Paris? Her mother's current hometown? Kimberly's heart fell. She hadn't seen her mother in years. Sure, they contacted each other now and then, but it was hard to communicate regularly when over seas and with each of their busy schedules. Her eyes filled with tears. Oh what would she give just to see her mother this very moment.

Another thought struck her, leading to another question. If she were on Earth the entire time, and there was nothing keeping them hidden…why had her friends not found her?

If they had truly been looking for her, then they would have found her by now. Looking away from the bright lights of the city, Kimberly wiped a cascading tear from her cheek. Before all the drama with Tommy, they had always been there for her.

They helped her out when Divatox kidnapped her before. Then again, she had been with Jason too, Lerigot and his family had needed to be saved, and Divatox was their current enemy. Now, the current rangers didn't know who she was, and Divatox was old news.

Her friends were no longer rangers. They didn't even notice she was gone- probably thinking she had done another disappearing act like when she had first moved to Florida. Even though she had been contacting them everyday before her capture, they would not perceive the silence as a dangerous thing. None of the originals were rangers anymore, so there was nothing to be afraid of- like getting kidnapped from old enemies that were supposedly defeated.

She shook her head. No, Divatox was right. They would not be looking for her, and they were happy without her. Otherwise, the viewing screen would have shown them searching for her.

Kimberly felt a large hand squeeze her shoulder. The Quantrons had left without her noticing. She looked up at her new companion and tried to smile at his sympathy. It was a weak one. She noticed that she was finding fewer reasons to smile about lately.

An idea popped into her mind, but she bashed it immediately. Now that she knew exactly where she was, she could escape with no problem. Unfortunately, she knew too much about a possible mutiny, and she'd be Divatox's main target until she either was dead or she chose to join the lady pirate and aspiring ruler of the earth. She wouldn't live her life running.

_Besides_, she looked up at Hygelac who had found his attention on the city lights as well, _I can't leave him like that. Not when he's been so kind to me- almost like a brother. No one will be waiting for me if I go home, but I have Lac right here. _

"Come on. Let's get some rest." Lac suggested. They began their walk back to the fortress.

Her gaze fell on the Eiffel Tower once more before entering the castle. This was her home, but she could no longer be a part of it- not as she once was.

* * *

"Get up, girl!" Divatox yelled and threw the curtains open in Kimberly's room.

"Eff you." Kimberly mumbled before an enormous yawn overtook her mouth. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She inspected Divatox's behavior as she began filing through Kimberly's barely filled closet.

"What are you doing?" She asked sleepily.

"Picking out an outfit for you. We're attending a conference today. In space." Divatox turned to look at her. She threw her a black leather outfit. "This'll do. You'll fit in nicely." 

"Oh, black leather. How original. Thanks." Then her eyes perked up. "I'm going to finally meet Astronema, aren't I?" 

Divatox's eyes glittered. "Yes! Oh, the look on her face when she sees you. I hear she's very self-conscious. This will be the perfect chance to tell Dark Specter my plans for the Power Rangers." 

"Yes, and I hear she is finally going to apologize for her misconception!" Divatox's eyes sparkled with delight. She clapped her hands together. "The little brat. I can't wait-"

"Excuse me, I need to get dressed." Kimberly shooed her still jabbering superior out the door. She looked at the contents in her closet. "_Finally_ going to apologize? It's only been a day."

"Meet at the ship when you're ready!" Divatox called in a singsong voice as she walked away.

She threw the outfit Divatox had picked out on the floor and grabbed a pair of ripped and holy jeans. They fit her snuggly, showing off her petite curves. She loved leather, but it was so overdone. Next, she pulled a tight camouflage cropped tank top over her head. Finally, she slipped her black combat boots on and laced them up. Examining herself in the mirror, Kimberly grinned. "Not too bad. Not too good."

She slung her samurai sword over her back and strapped a gun to her thigh. One could never be too careful when dealing with monsters and villains. Quickly, she made her way to the space shuttle. 

Divatox looked at her when she entered and dropped onto a swivel chair. The villainess glanced at Kimberly's exposed stomach. "What happened to the outfit I picked for you?" 

Kimberly shrugged. "This is more me." 

"Whatever." 

"Prepare for take off." A PR system informed them. 

"Oooh, goody, goody!" Divatox clapped. "I'm excited." 

Kimberly let out a breath and strapped herself in a seat. She'd never been to space- not in an actual aircraft at least. One would think a ranger of an aerial zord would be used to airplanes and space ships and such, but she had not been on an airplane since the Christmas she visited Angel Grove. It could have been that almost crash she had experienced with her Uncle Steve, but she did not trust the man made machines to function and not piloting the controls scared the living daylights out of her. 

"You all right, Krosa?" Hygelac asked with a concerned stare. 

She nodded. Apparently, he noticed that she was gripping the arms of the seats so tightly that her hands were turning white. He patted her hand and began a conversation with Divatox about the lost treasure of Troy, why she was so interested and how they knew so much passed by the terrified ex-ranger.

"Krosa?" She asked perplexedly, interjecting his conversation, much to Divatox's annoyance. 

"It means crane where I am from." He responded with a small smile. 

She sat back in her seat and smiled. "I like it."

* * *

"Reaching destination." Rang out the PR.

"Huh?" Kimberly jolted. Looking around, she saw Hygelac punching a few buttons on a control desk. Beside her was drooling Divatox, who seemed to be completely out of it. She stood beside Hygelac and looked out a window. "Where are we?"

"Wah!" Divatox jerked. "Why didn't anyone _wake_ me when we got here?!"

"We are on the Cimmerian Planet." He told her, ignoring their whining leader, and hit a key that opened the spacecraft. Before them stood a group of Quantrons and Cogs and a young girl with bright long purple hair. She had a small smirk upon her face. Kimberly assumed this was the infamous Astronema.

"Divatox. You sure have changed." She stared intently on Kimberly.

Kimberly burst out laughing. "Me? You must be kidding. I'm insulted."

"Brat." She heard from behind her.

"Hag." Kimberly called over her shoulder.

"Show me respect." Divatox slapped the back of Kimberly's head forcing a wince out of the younger girl. Astronema gazed at the two in amusement; Divatox finally noticed her and scowled. "Astronema."

"Divatox." She replied curtly. Then, she added in a sweeter voice, "I believe I owe you an apology for my…misunderstanding. It looks like you have everything under control." 

"Damn right, you owe me an apology. Sending troops of Quantrons to my current home and attacking my soldiers. Damaging my property!" Divatox ranted. 

Astronema scrunched her nose and brushed her off with a wave of the hand. "I guess we're supposed to all meet in the dining hall." 

"Food? Thank God. I'm starving." Elgar appeared. He stopped when he saw Divatox before him. "Heeey, Di! Long time no see, eh?" He grinned and jabbed her in the side. She returned his greeting with a glare. 

The group resumed their way to the dining hall. Kimberly hung back behind the rest with Hygelac. When they arrived at their goal, they were welcomed by another large group of villains. 

"Di, how aaare you?" A voice that sounded more like a shriek than anything else sounded out. Kimberly cringed, immediately recognizing the familiar witch.

"What is Rita doing here?" She whispered to Hygelac as Divatox and Rita caught up. 

"All villains are going to meet here. Dark Specter has something special to announce." He updated her. She nodded in thanks and crossed her arms. If Rita was here, Zedd was not too far behind. Boy, would he be surprised to see _her_ there. 

Not too long after and the skinless freak showed up. "Zeddy, it's Divatox! Come here!"

He strolled towards them with a martini in his fleshy hand. "Hello." He said in his deep raspy voice.

Divatox nodded. "Hello. Ri, do you have any idea what the Dark Specter wants to tell us?" 

The sorceress shook her head. "I was hoping you would know."

"Oh, Rita, Zedd. I have someone you might want to see!" Divatox cried out enthusiastically. "You won't believe who I caught a few months ago."

"Who, Divatox." Zedd stated, sounding bored with the over-enthused villain.

Divatox grabbed Kimberly in mid-word and pulled her alongside her. Zedd spit out his drink and Rita screeched with laughter. "You got Kimmie??"

Kimberly wrinkled her nose at the nickname-made her sound like a three year old. Zedd still gaped at her mesmerized. Rita finally noticed his silence and glowered. "Zeddy!"

"Wha-? Oh." He snapped out of his shock. "Well, well, Kimberly. Looks like the crane has finally flown from her coop."

She stayed silent. Divatox poked her and received a glare.

"So how did you do it? What spell did you use? Was this from the Maligore incident?" Rita bombarded the lady pirate with questions.

"No, it wasn't from Maligore. And there were no spells used. She turned on her own." Divatox sniggered. Kimberly threw her a look and recrossed her arms. On her own, her ass, but she did not speak for her defense. She'd rather keep silent then talk to those out of season enemies.

Kimberly's eyes skimmed the rest of the room. Her eyes narrowed when they rested on a cloaked male (she assumed from his physical appearance) standing near the wall. She found herself compelled to walk over to him. She pushed her way through the trio and made her way towards the mysterious figure. 

He had his back turned to her, so he did not see her approaching. She tapped his shoulder and said, "Excuse me." 

The figure jumped and turned to face her. His face was completely covered by a dark shadow from the hood of the cloak. "Yes?" 

Yes, he was definitely male. And from the normal sound of his voice, human too. "Who are you?" She cocked her head slightly. 

Before the man could reply, Hygelac emerged from the crowd. "Kimberly, it's time to start." 

She nodded at Hygelac and turned back to ask the strange man if he wanted to sit next to her, but there was only the wall. "Weird."

* * *

Yes, it's slightly different to the TV Show version, but oh well. More will come later. And sincewinter break is coming up, I'll have even more time to write! Sweet. I hope this chapter was all right!

**Daisyz_-_ **I know, itdoesn't seem like Kim at all, doesit? :) That's why I love the idea though. Kimberly turning evil has always been a really cool idea because it's the complete opposite of who she is. Yeah, she doesn't really care about the Power Chamber, but then again she had other stuff on her mind too... ;-)

**Funky in Fishnet**- sighs with relief I was hoping that I was writing the discovery of her powers and whatnot so people could understand and not too quickly or slowly. Thanks. And your welcome about your name. It really is cool.

**C2-**Yeah, I'm a fan of TK myself. (They were so perfect! baaah why did they have to break up?) I stopped watching after Kimberly left, saw the episode where she broke up with him, swore off Power Rangers until I saw Jason on the show again, stopped watching after a few of those episodes, then reunited with my obsession in June while looking for blank VHS tapes. I foundPink Week on one of them and was hooked again.

**Ghostwriter**- Oh yes, the damage. But I won't give anything away. haha ;-)

Thanks for the reviews!


	6. Breakaway

**Disclaimer: I don't own the power rangers**

**A/N-** And I apologize for the dialogue and the facts not being completely right. I haven't ever seen this episode, so I'm going off of information from various PR websites. Plus, from the Power Rangers Best of the Seasons DVD (Countdown to Destruction)

* * *

_As time passes by, regrets for the rest of my life.  
The ones who I confide were gone in the black of the night._

**_Avenged Sevenfold_**

* * *

Andros stealthily hid himself out of the young woman's sight. He couldn't risk getting caught now, not before any information had been released. He continued to gaze at the stunning brunette as she looked around for him seeming concerned.

Something was different about this…Kimberly, as the man had called her. She did not seem evil. She certainly wasn't dressed like a normal villain, except for that metal attachment above her eyebrow. She seemed almost normal, but he could not deny the feeling of a strong power vibrating from her body even from where he was currently standing. The fact that she was at this meeting, if she were not evil, puzzled him.

She followed the giant to a seat at a long dining table and sat down. The petite beauty scanned the room, probably looking for him. Andros's breath caught when her eyes stopped in his direction. He let it loose when she continued across the room.

------------------------

All thoughts about the mysterious cloaked man flew from her mind when Dark Specter entered the room. She immediately choked on her drink. "What the hell? Dark Specter is Maligore??"

Divatox, who was sitting next to her, stabbed her fork into Kimberly's hand. The ex-ranger swallowed the shout that wanted to burst out. She nursed her throbbing hand as Divatox whispered, "Of course not. Maligore is no where near the importance of Dark Specter."

"They look exactly alike!" Kimberly insisted, still cradling her hand.

"What are you talking about? No they don't." Divatox said resolutely.

Kimberly slouched in her chair, giving in. "Whatever." Then she muttered, "No wonder this place is so huge."

"Show some respect for your superiors! You will be severely punished if I get into any kind of trouble." Divatox warned under her breath.

"Ooh, I'm scared." Kimberly retorted. "You need me remember?"

Divatox considered this and shut her mouth. Kimberly grinned in victory and satisfaction.

-----------------------

The red space ranger watched amusedly at the little encounter between Divatox and Kimberly. They seemed to be arguing considerately about something. Though they hardly looked anything a like, he wondered if this was a rebellious daughter of Divatox. Then again, Divatox seemed too worried about her appearance to have any children mess up her weight.

"You are all probably wondering why I gathered you here today…considering most of you do not get along." Dark Specter began.

"I'm sure your news is excellent, sir!" Rita called out to him. Andros flinched at the screeching sound.

"It is." Dark Specter nodded. "I have come to inform you that, I have succeeded in the capture of one of our greatest enemies."

A rumbling commenced as each villain spoke of whom it could be. They had so many enemies.

Andros frowned. One of their enemies would be one of his allies. And if this capture was important enough to risk congregating almost all of the evil villains of the universe, then he should be worried.

"Who?" Divatox asked finally.

A long pause came before the answer. "Zordon. Of Eltar."

An enormous gasp came from the double cone headed witch. "ZORDON?" The room erupted in cheers and a few monsters began singing different songs of victory. Andros could swear he heard the Earth song "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow".

"No! Not Zordon!" He glanced at Kimberly. She had a stony expression on her face, as if she was trying to hide any kind of emotion. Andros bowed his head. When doing this, he did not see her slip out of her seat and head towards him. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

She looked up at him. "What are you doing in the shadows?"

"Uh…I…" Andros stammered.

Kimberly's eyes narrowed. "You're not supposed to be here are you?" She folded her arms and balanced her weight on one leg.

"Krosa, is there something wrong?" The gigantic man materialized from the other side of the door.

Kimberly stared carefully into Andro's eyes and seemed to be in deep thought. Finally, she shook her head. "No, there's nothing wrong, Lac."

When the larger man left, Kimberly spoke again. "I suggest you get out of here before anyone spots you." She turned on her heal and entered the partying crowd again.

Now he was thoroughly confused. What just happened? He better leave so he could report the news of Zordon's capture to KO 35 ASAP.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, something went terribly wrong. He heard a large shout come from inside the dining hall that stopped him from fleeing.

"Who is this Astronema!" Rita whined loudly. "Why is she head of the annihilation of the Power Rangers? Why aren't we, Zeddy?"

"You couldn't handle them before, Rita. What makes you think a washed up sorceress and her skinless husband could finish the job? I was the one who destroyed the Power Chamber, after all." Divatox replied haughtily.

"WHAT!" Rita exclaimed. She thrust her wand forward and shot red sparks at Divatox's now retreating back. The blast missed Divatox by a foot, but hit the wall that was hiding Andros. His cloak had been blown back by the wind from the blast. Everyone could now clearly see his ranger costume.

All chatting halted at once. They turned to look at the intruder.

Andros gulped, but readied himself for an attack by grasping his sword. From a few feet beside him he heard a soft voice utter, "A Power Ranger?"

He took a quick look to see who the voice was coming from, and saw Kimberly staring at him with her mouth slightly opened.

A Red Ranger in space? Last Kimberly had heard, all the rangers were still on Earth, and they're outfits were different. There were Power Rangers on other planets? Immediately, she felt foolish for thinking otherwise. Earth wasn't the only planet that needed protecting.

Still, she continued to stare at him in disbelief. Only when Goldar began attacking him, did she think to make any move.

Was he here because of Zordon's capture? The thought of them holding her substitute father hostage, or torturing him, sickened her, so if he were here to save Zordon, she would do nothing to stop him.

_In fact,_ she thought slipping away from the area, _I think I'll go find him right now._

But before she could get any further, she was yanked backwards. She turned around and saw Astronema standing there. "Where are you going?"

Kimberly shrugged. "Why should I help them out? He will escape anyway."

Astronema snorted. "Especially with these goons fighting him. I'll be surprised if this lasts another five minutes."

"I give it, oh, two until he figures out a plan to flee. He'll be unscathed, whereas the monsters are severely damaged." Kimberly grinned. "Then, if the monsters can grow, they'll do so, and he'll hop into an enormous zord and defeat it again."

Astronema gaped at her with delight. "Tell me, how do you know so much about Ranger history? I have just been assigned to obliterate them, you know."

"I was once a ranger. Three years to be exact. I am the reason you detected those powers, or so I believe." Kimberly supposed. Astronema gave her a side glance.

"Actually, I really just cannot stand Divatox. I heard she isn't too happy about my leadership, just because I'm young."

Kimberly guffawed. "She's probably more insulted because you're much prettier than she'll ever be."

"Thanks." Astronema blushed a bit. Out of the corner of the girls' eyes, they saw the red ranger break out of a window and hop onto a glider. Astronema checked the time. "Oh, we both win. 3 and half minutes."

"Good going you numbskull!" Rita yelled at Goldar.

"Incompetent monkey brain!" Zedd included afterwards. Goldar shielded his face with his hands.

"You fools! Get him before he reveals our secret!"

"I'll go after him Dark Specter!" Divatox volunteered swiftly.

"No, we'll go!" Rita threw in, placing herself in front of the annoyed Divatox.

"No." Kimberly stepped backwards when he turned towards them. "Astronema will take care of the red ranger."

"_Heeer_?!" Divatox bleated. "Why her?"

"Unlike you, she follows my orders, Divatox. And because she is the only one capable of doing so!" Dark Specter boomed.

"I'll see you later, Kimberly." Astronema nodded and disappeared in a purple flash. A few Quantrons followed closely behind.

* * *

"Divatox, what did the Dark Specter mean when he said you didn't follow his orders?" Kimberly asked as they landed on Earth once again.

Divatox reddened. "Oh, well…that. I sort of went against his wishes when I continued attacking the Power Rangers. But, hey, I did destroy the Power Chamber in the midst of it all."

"You went against the Dark Specter's orders? I'm impressed." Kimberly sniggered. "I didn't know you had it in you to rebel against someone like him!"

"Well, you don't know me very well, now do you?" Divatox replied. This was good. They were joking around. Now Kimberly could ask her next question.

"Would it be all right, if I went out of the castle grounds for a couple of hours?" She asked watchfully. Divatox's posture stiffened.

"Of course not." She dismissed quickly. "Leave me. I have work to do."

"But-" Kimberly started, but was cut off with the door to Divatox's study chamber slamming shut. Kimberly's shoulders sunk. All she wanted was to go shopping or something. It wasn't like she had anyone to talk to out there.

She looked out a nearby window and saw the sun setting. Her thoughts traveled to Astronema. The two of them were so similar: young, but powerful, though Kimberly had yet to prove herself of any significance.

Slowly, Kimberly backed away from the window and headed towards her room.

* * *

The next morning Kimberly hopped out of bed. Surprisingly, she was in a very good mood today. Maybe it was because the sun was vibrantly shining in her room and the perkiness was absorbing into her soul. Or maybe it was because Divatox was leaving and would not be back until the next day. Apparently, she had urgent business to attend to on another planet that Kimberly could not take part of. She was leaving Hygelac behind as well.

So, they decided they would relax all day. Something she had not done since before her ranger days.

Bounding into the large, stony kitchen, Kimberly called out to Hygelac. He entered a few minutes later with a large grin on his face. He seemed to be just excited about doing nothing as she was. "Yes?"

"It's sunshiny. Let's go to the garden waterfalls. Please?" She pouted.

"As you wish! It is your day." She grinned at his answer and immediately retrieved the spell book from her room. Maybe she could learn a new spell or find a new power.

She met Hygelac in the back courtyard and began her way to the waterfalls. Hygelac had shown them to her a short time before; she had instantly fallen in love with the lush overgrown grass and surrounding trees. The constant sound of water impacting with the pool also contributed to the beauty.

After sitting on a large rock, Kimberly set her book down and opened it to a random page. "Hmm. Protection…no, wait. Time travel."

_A shard of mirror for a broken reflection_

_A pocket watch with a cracked face_

_A cache of herbs to burn for protection_

_All will send me to another time and place._

She read this silently for fear that it might work. Then again, whenever she had read things before in her room, nothing happened. Hygelac leaned over her shoulder. "What are you reading?"

"Oh, it's a book I found in the library a few months ago. Take a look at it."

Hygelac frowned and concentrated the manuscript placed before her. Kimberly waited for him to respond, but was surprised at his reaction. "You got this in the library?"

She nodded, her face mirroring his frown. What was the matter?

"You must get rid of this right away." He ordered in a harsh tone. He reached for the book, but Kimberly snatched it away before he could get a grip on the cover.

"What are you doing? This is mine!" Kimberly hopped off the rock and took a few steps backward. Hygelac stepped forwards, but she held up her hand, knocking him backwards a bit. His eyes widened in surprise at her use of telekinesis.

"Kimberly…" Hygelac started. "You do not know the powers behind that book!"

Kimberly's brow furrowed in uncertainty. "I know there are powers. I know that this is a spell book. I know!"

"There are more evils ensnared in that book than you can ever envision." Hygelac warned her.

Her features softened at his concern. Relaxing her stature, she placed the book on the rock again and motioned for Hygelac to sit next to her. "Don't worry, I haven't been able to perform any of them. And if that ever happens, they won't be used for evil. I wasn't a very good, _good_ person, so how could I do much damage on the other side, if you know what I'm trying to say…?" She pressed her lips together and sighed.

"Kimberly…you have great power inside of you." Hygelac paused briefly before continuing on. "Divatox would not have chosen you otherwise. She can see a hidden talent deep within you; a power that you never knew you had. Already we can see it establishing. I believe in that power, and I believe in you." He finished with a proud smile.

She could not keep a tear from escaping her eye. Quickly, she wiped it away. She threw herself into Hygelacs arms and whispered a small, "Thank you."

Hygelac smiled, "In the short time we have known each other, you have become like a daughter to me. I could not bear letting you live thinking you are not capable. Have faith that when the time comes, you will prove yourself worthy of the world."

All she could do was nod. If she tried to speak, no words would come out. She pulled away from the long embrace and giggled at her state. When she composed herself, she asked her friend, "Lac, how come whenever I try to use my powers inside the castle, nothing ever works? I know I have been doing everything right…"

"That is because Divatox has had many protection and defense spells placed upon it. Once outside, your powers are restored." Hygelac enlightened.

"Oh. Tell me, how did you know about this book?" Kimberly asked, pulling the bulky book onto her lap.

"I knew sorcerer who it belonged to."

"But this is over three centuries old!" Kimberly objected wildly.

"I am an old man." Hygelac replied in a wise tone.

"Wow. I always thought you were just my mothers age or something." Kimberly admitted, a bit sheepish. "I'm tired of sitting! Let's spar."

"As you wish."

* * *

Kimberly placed an orange wig on her head, fixing it so her natural hair was not visible. She smiled at the image before her in the mirror. She had never cut her hair in a bob, but she definitely should try it soon. Orange bangs covered most of the metal tool above her eyebrow. The rest, she covered with large orange tinted sunglasses. Leaning forward, she applied bright pink lipstick that matched the pink streaks in the wig.

No one would recognize her in this get up. Her bright orange hair might stand out a bit, but the black leather cat suit would match her biker look. She didn't think anyone would think _too_ strangely of her.

She kissed the mirror and smiled at the lip print she left. No matter what Divatox said, she was getting out of there, just for one night. If she didn't, she'd go insane. And what more perfect timing than when Divatox was out herself?

Quickly, she hurried her way out of the dark, gloomy corridors and to the front hall. Cautiously, she backed up against the wall and peeked her head around the corner and focused on the front doors. Two Piranhatrons were standing in front of them.

She cursed silently. _They'll never let me pass by. _

She didn't want to make any unnecessary noise by fighting them, so Kimberly ran quietly back to her chamber. When in the solace of her room, she ran thoughts through her head trying to think of a way to escape.

A breeze hit her, and she turned around. She had forgotten to close her window again. However, instead of walking towards the window to close it, an idea struck her abruptly. Smacking her forehead, she groaned. _I am so **stupid**._She watched the breeze push the curtains away and forcing them to extend gracefully from the glass.

She examined the distance from her window to the ground. Jumping distance, but she had to be able to get back in. Conveniently, just to the right there was a large tree to the right that would be simple to climb.

Carefully, she hopped onto the window and swung her legs over the windowsill. Pushing herself off, she let herself fall gracefully to the grass. She grimaced after standing up from her crouch. Heeled boots really were not the best to wear when she was required to do stunts like that.

Now, onto her next mission. She hadn't really thought of where she wanted to visit and now felt even more stupid for not deciphering before she had jumped out the window. Where was she to go?

One place stuck out like a sore thumb in her mind. Angel Grove.

But how was she to get there? That would be impossible. She couldn't fly there in less than one night let alone get back before dawn. Nor could she just appear there from merely the thought of it.

However, the moment she concentrated on teleporting, she felt her body dissolve into blue mist. "Woah!" was her last reply before her voice left her.

A few seconds later, she landed on a concrete sidewalk, and the sun was shining brightly above her. She grinned, oh how she loved the time difference right this very moment. Pivoting around, she saw a very familiar building positioned right in front of her. The Youth Center. Her heart warmed with many delightful memories.

However, those memories now also saddened her. They were all shared with her ex best friends whom were the opposite of what she always believed.

Oh well. She was dying to have one of Ernie's famous smoothies. Leisurely, she made her way to the Youth Center doors and pulled the doors open.

* * *

Jason finished his workout with one last punch to the big blue bag hanging from the ceiling. He walked over to a bench with this duffel bag on it and grabbed a water bottle. It was good to be back in Angel Grove for a while. He had just arrived the day before to visit Emily. She was getting married the next week and had invited him to attend. As a good friend, though it might be a little awkward, he decided he should go. Not to mention he wanted to spend quality time with his parents. He hadn't done that since before the Geneva Convention.

He looked around the Youth Center. The layout and design hadn't changed much since Ernie had left, but he heard that the new owner was planning on changing it into a local surf hang out. Jason wasn't too sure he liked this idea, but what could he do.

Immediately bright orange caught his attention. He noticed that the bright orange came from someone's hair. In fact, that someone was a girl dressed in a black leather cat suit. _Wow._ _Don't see much of that style around here_. He inspected the girl more closely. She had large orange tinted sunglasses on that made it difficult to see much of her small face, but the beauty was still noticeable.

Her size reminded him of Kimberly. The thought of her caused grief to overtakehim promptly. He hadn't seen his best friend for so long now. What he would do to talk to her. What he would say to her if he got the chance!

The girl sat on one of the stools at the bar and rested her elbows on the countertop. Adelle approached her with a friendly face and asked her a question. As he walked closer, he overheard her ask a question.

"Where is Ernie?"

He stopped in his tracks. She had been here when Ernie owned the Juice Bar? He must know her then. He answered before Adelle had the chance to open her mouth, "He went to South America. Something about building a bridge."

He saw her stiffen and rotate the seat slowly. "Thank you." She had a soft voice, one that matched the level of Kimberly's. But the orange haired girl's voice was lower than Kimberly's ever was.

She seemed to be having troubles making eye contact with him. Actually, she hadn't faced him at all. She had lifted her right hand to rest her cheek on, so he could not even see the profile of her face.

"If you came here for one of his special smoothies, Adelle seems to make ones just as great." Adelle smiled at his compliment. The girl just nodded. "Thanks."

Jason sat down. "How do you know Ernie?"

The girl shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Oh, I'm the daughter of his best friend. I haven't seen him in a while, and now I know why. That was all, really, so I guess I'm ready to leave."

With that, she hopped off the seat and sped outside the side door.

-------------------

Kimberly breathed in deeply. _What is Jason doing in Angel Grove?_ And why was he so interested in talking to her?

"Hey, wait!" his voice called from behind her. She whipped her head around. "Why'd you leave so quickly?"

She folded her arms, awkwardness filled the air. The cracks in the sidewalk became the eighth wonder of the world.

"I forgot something at my hotel. I need to go back before I go to the airport." She lied. Her lies seemed to be getting better.

He seemed disappointed. "You're leaving?"

"Yes. I'm going to Antarctica for a study of the polar bears." She nodded. Inwardly she wondered where that came from. _Antarctica? _

"Antarctica?" He restated. "Wow, That's…really cool. Are you part of a National Geographic thing?"

"No. This is a personal challenge. Well, almost challenge. More like an interest. The challenge will be moving from beach weather to 30º below." She added with a slight laugh. _Hmm. This is pretty good._

He joined in with her laughter. "Well, I better go…" Kimberly trailed off, taking a step back.

He caught her arm quickly. "Hey, wait." She stopped moving and looked up at him.

"I have two questions for you." He paused and waited for indication that she was listening. Finally, he added, "First, what is your name?"

"Krosa." She blurted out. She thought for a moment. At least she didn't say Kimberly; that would have been a dead give away.

"Krosa? Another really cool thing about you." He continued, "Second question: Is that your natural hair color?"

She laughed and backed away. "Now, if I told you, I'd have to kill you."

She spun around and briskly walked across the street before he could come up with another reason for her to hang about.

Kimberly sidestepped into an alleyway and pressed her back against the brick wall. She breathed in deeply, trying to push the nervous feeling away. Tears came to her eyes and she looked up, not really focusing on anything, but perhaps if she did then the tears would fall back inside. "_He didn't even recognize me!" _She finally spoke, half-shouting. "This really shows how well he really knew me."

After regaining her poise, she exited the alley and continued her exploration of Angel Grove.

* * *

Woo! Another chapter done. :) My writing patterns are getting really interesting. I already have a few of the later chapters completed, but I need to write up to that point before I can post them! Baaah! Sooooo on with the drill...what'd you think? Bad...good?

Will Jason find out Krosa's true identity? Will Kimberly tell him? Will the Rangers ever find out where Kimberly has gone?? Ah.

Anyway...

**Daisyz-** Did you watch In Space at all? It correlates with that to some point...the best I could without seeing the season. hah :) Yes, winter break! I only have one more final and I am done! Then only one semester left of highschool. Wow.

**Ghostwriter**- Hahaha, I absolutely love Divatox's lines. Especially in the turbo movie..she has got to be thebest villain Power Rangers ever met (aside from Astronema) just becauseherpersonality is soburlesque and sarcastic

**Funky In Fishnet**- Yay, I really like Andros too. It would have been better had henot been forced to be so cheesy (in the very few episodes I have seen). In the later seasons, the few episodes he appeared in, they wrote his character lines so much better. I didn't even notice the change between Divatox and Kimberly's relationship. Your comment made me reread it, and I can definitely see it now! Hah :) I am beginning to love Lac and Kimberly's friendship as well! She needed someone to be her confidant!


	7. Hey Pretty

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. Only Hygelac.**

* * *

_I'm walking down the line that divides me somewhere in my mind -_**Green Day**

* * *

_**Dear Kimberly,**_

_**Please come visit me this afternoon! I am in dire need of your opinion on something. See you soon!**_

_**Astronema** _

Kimberly reread the letter. How was she going to visit Astronema without Divatox finding out? She bit her bottom lip while contemplating the various ideas. It was highly unlikely that Divatox or Hygelac would not notice her absence if she disappeared for a few hours. She could tell Hygelac, but she wasn't sure if he would understand her growing friendship with Astronema seeing as her purpose of being here was to destroy that very person.

Unexpectedly a gust of wind entered her room giving her a chill. She turned to close her window when she saw the pages on the Book of Spells fluttering. It had been closed before, but then again it was a magical book. A grin appeared on her face as she sat on her bed. The page was bordered with green vines with leaves that were enchanted to move as if a breeze were hitting them. Two girls stood on the bottom left corner of the page; they looked like identical twins. Kimberly focused on the spell and gasped at its contents. This was perfect!

_Angels of the Sky_

_Spirit of the Night _

_With this lock of hair; spring of life_

_Beet leaves; a cashew _

_Duplicate me in two._

She could create a copy of herself to last only a few hours! "Thanks!" She whispered to the script. She grabbed the book, making sure to bookmark the page the spell was on, a cup, and headed outside.

Kimberly stealthy made her way to her and Lac's spot, making sure the coast was clear. When she was certain she was the only one around, she placed the book on the large rock and studied the spell. She grabbed her samurai sword, which she had gotten used to carrying, and took a strand of her hair.

She dropped the strand of hair. Cut her hair? Goodness, this was going to be hard._ But I have to do it in order to see Astronema, so…_She took the lock of hair again and sliced threw it with the sharp blade, closing her eyes as she did so.

Finally, it was over and she smiled triumphantly. After memorizing the incantation, she filled the cup with the tresses, water, which should be the spring of life, and added the other ingredients. She grinded them together until it was a murky brown color. She stated the first line and looked up at the sky.

"_Angels of the sky"_ The sky began to cloud over. "_Spirit of the Night" _Now the clouds darkened until the sky seemed to be completely black. "_With this lock of hair, spring of Life, beet leaves; a cashew…duplicate me in two."_

Frowning with disgust, she brought the potion to her lips and gulped all of the contents. A strange feeling overtook her body as black light outlined her skin. She examined the light around her hands and grinned. At least she knew something was working.

She cried out as a sharp pain coursed through her chest. Her body throbbed as the pain grew until she felt she could bear it no longer. She buckled to her knees and contained the next scream that would be sure alert others. What did she do? Did she say something wrong? Get the wrong sort of ingredients?

Then, something surprised her. A foot stepped out from inside her body. She stared as the foot, followed by a leg, and soon a full body exited her ribcage. She gasped for air and caught herself with her hands before collapsing to the ground.

After regaining her senses, she carefully stood up and saw before her a girl. Kimberly stared in awe as she looked at the girl identical to her. Everything was the same, including the metal device on her eyebrow. There was only one difference: she did not have a missing lock of hair. The girl in front of her smirked.

Kimberly's eyes glinted mischievously and she mirrored "her" expression. "Hello…Kimberly."

"Hello."

* * *

"Oh. Kimberly! You made it!" Astronema exclaimed and hugged her. "How did you get away so soon?"

"Of course I came. What are friends for?" Kimberly pulled back from their embrace.

"Friends." Astronema sighed deeply. "I've never had any friends other than Ecliptor, and he's more like a father anyway."

A slight frown appeared on Kimberly's face. She'd never had any friends? "I'm sorry."

Astronema perked up. "Don't be! It'll be fun having another female around for once! First, let's go to my room, then we can get on to business." She stopped. "What happened to your hair?"

Kimberly blushed and pulled at the strand. "Well, that's partly the reason why I was able to get here so quickly."

Astronema raised an eyebrow. "Really? How so? Op, this is my room."

She led Kimberly into a dark room and hit a button that closed the sliding door. It was a dark and somewhat creepy room with only a few pieces of furniture including a bed and a wardrobe. She followed her purple haired friend to the bed and sat down beside her. "I needed this lock of hair to perform a duplicating spell on myself. As we speak, Divatox is probably screaming at a clone Kimberly."

"A clone? That's genius!" Astronema giggled. "Are you some sort of sorceress?"

Kimberly shook her head. "No, nowhere close, but I'm practicing." She pulled on the shorter hair again. "Right now I'm kind of bummed that my hair is so lopsided. I look so horrible!"

Astronema leaned forward with a smile on her face. A look in her eyes told Kimberly she had something going on in her mind. "I can fix that for you. It just so happens that an expertise of mine is metamorphoses. I can teach you how!"

"Really? Metamorphoses? Like shape-shifting?" Kimberly asked, her spirits perking up. She thought of the things she could do if she knew how to transmute into something else.

"Well, not really shape-shifting, since I rarely ever do that. I never had any reason to do so. Anyway, I've stuck with only changing my hair, which is actually why I asked you here today, ironically." Astronema tapped her finger to her chin. "I was wondering, what would it look like if I went with black and short? Like…this?"

Kimberly's jaw dropped slightly as Astronema's hair magically shortened to her shoulders, the front ends becoming bangs, and straightened out. Then, black ink spread from her roots to the ends until all her hair was jet black. Kimberly slammed her jaw shut quickly.

"Like Cleopatra?" She inquired.

"Who?" Astronema posed innocently and fluffed her hair. "This is a huge change, usually I go for the long, lush looks."

"No, I like it. It means power and business." Kimberly paused. "Yet, sophistication and beauty. All the right stuff."

"All right. To fix that awful haircut, Kimberly, it will take a lot of meditation the first few times." She pressed her fingertips to her temples and closed her eyes.

Kimberly followed Astronema's position and pushed all thoughts and emotions to the back of her mind. "Now, focus completely on your hair and what you want it to look like after the change."

Kimberly did so and waited for anything to happen. After a few moments she heard Astronema squeal. "Look! It's working!"

Kimberly opened her eyes and grabbed the mirror Astronema was holding. "That took forever for only a few inches!"

Astronema shrugged. "It's hard at first. You'll get better, don't worry."

Kimberly smiled at her reflection and closed her eyes once more. She let all thoughts escape her brain and concentrated only on slim red and blonde highlights. Oh how her hairstylists would kill to be able to do this. She gazed into the mirror again and grinned as the subtle highlights accented her dark brunette hair. "What do you think?"

"Good." Astronema grinned and jumped up. "I think it's time for a makeover!"

-------------------

A few hours later, a few trips to Earth, and a few new looks, Kimberly and Astronema collapsed onto the bed, giggling like they had lost a few years in their lives. "You look so…dorky!" Astronema pointed at Kimberly's baggy track shorts and oversized jersey. Her hair was pulled into two braided pigtails, but the rest of her head was covered with a large trucker hat.

She moseyed across the room as if she was on a catwalk and twirled a bit. "Step off, sista, or I'll busta cap." Before she could continue, she burst out laughing and fell to the floor. She never had been a great actress.

"What is…busta cap?" Astronema queried with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh, it's not important." Kimberly said from her place on the ground. "It's slang talk for gangstas."

"Your Earthan cultures are so weird." Astronema carried on sitting up. She herself was dressed in a sheer hippie styled gown. Although, she had morphed her hair into long brown wavy locks. Kimberly sat down behind her and began braiding the sides of the Princess of Evil's hair.

"Not any more weird than wearing the same outfit everyday." Kimberly replied lightly. She twisted two braids from each side of Astronema's head together and tied them into a knot for security. "Tell me, Astronema, how did you get into this?"

Astronema situated herself so she was facing Kimberly. "What do you mean?"

"This!" Kimberly gestured around. "This taking over the world business. Does it run in the family or something?"

Astronema blinked and looked at her fiddling fingers. "Oh. That." Her eyes contacted with Kimberly before she turned away again. "I can't remember anything except a few flashes of pictures before I was seven. The only reminder is this locket." She fiddled with something underneath her dress and revealed a locket that Kimberly had never noticed before.

Kimberly took the locket, still fastened around Astronema's neck, and studied the intricate designs. "It's beautiful. Whose pictures are inside?"

Astronema yanked the chain out of Kimberly's hand hastily. "That's only for me to know."

Kimberly pulled back slowly and confused. "All…right. That's fine."

Astronema smiled a bit. "Thanks. It's just important that I keep something to myself."

"I understand. I know exactly how that feels." Kimberly agreed with a small nod.

"So, how did _you_ get into this business?" Astronema changed the subject.

Kimbelry bit her lip wondering how much she should tell her. After a few moments of hesitation, she decided, _What the hell? It's not like I'm going to deceive Astronema now. And I never told Divatox I'd go through with it. _"Uh, promise you won't get mad?"

Astronema eyed her suspiciously, but nodded. "About half a year ago I was training to compete for the Olympics—"

"The Olympics? What's that?" Her companion interjected while unbraiding her hair.

"Some of the best athletes in the world get together and compete in different events. Mine was gymnastics. You know what that is, right." She waited for Astronema who nodded again. "Anyway, I stayed late after practice one day to perfect this really difficult tumble, and by the time I was done, it was really dark outside. Of course, me being the tough optimistic girl who thinks she's invincible didn't call a cab and walked home."

"What's a cab?" Astronema asked innocently.

"Okay, don't interrupt or you won't get the story!" Kimberly growled jokingly but added, "It's a service car that takes you anywhere you want."

"Oh. Weird." Astronema asserted.

"Bah, on my way home, I was jumped by I'm guessing Piranhatrons since they are Divatox's goons. Then the next thing I knew, I was in this dark room and had this on my head." Kimberly fingered the metal fixation. "After being jumped yet again by Hygelac, I was brought to Divatox who told me that she needed me for a certain mission that no other could pull off…to assassinate you." Kimberly hesitated to see Astronema's reaction. Nothing.

"I figured she wanted me gone. I just didn't know how she was going to pull it off." Astronema declared.

"Really?" Kimberly looked away. "Are you mad at me?"

"Of course not. You said were friends, and I believe you. Besides, you have had so many chances to kill me in these past few hours, and you have done nothing to force me on the defensive." Astronema discarded. "And now you have told me the truth; honesty is something rare in these games." She paused and looked at Kimberly's wrist. "By the way, what is that?"

Kimberly pursued Astronema's gaze and saw her communicator. "Oh this? It's just a silly old watch that one of my old best friends gave to me." She tapped on the jewel to reveal the time. Her eyes widened. It was almost eight thirty! "Hey, I'd better go! I don't want Divatox to be scolding me and have me disappear right before her eyes!"

Kimberly quickly changed into her jeans and tank top and removed the hat. With a wave she vanished in blue mist.

A moment later she appeared in her bedroom with a heartbroken look on her face. She erected her arm so that the communicator was in her direct line of vision. A thought to all her friends passed through her mind. _Why did you give up on me so easily? Was I really of no importance to you? _

She didn't even know why she still wore the silver bracelet. It had no significance to her anymore. Her friends were not looking for her, nor did they care that she had disappeared from the Earth's surface in one night!

In spite of that, she still wore it. Maybe to symbolize to trust no one or possibly to remind her of who she used to be. In her heart, she truly did not know how she could still be holding on to that shredded strand of hope that maybe her friends did love her. Maybe this was all a trick or even a dream. Because of that small hope, she wore it: the only connection to her past.

The door behind her creaked, and her head snapped towards it. Her own head peaked through the door and conclusively walked through the door.

"Oh, it's only you." Kimberly sighed with relief.

The clone stumbled across the floor to the bed and heaved in a breath. "I only have a few moments left. Tell me, is Divabitch always that bad?"

"Always." Kimberly confirmed. She watched as the clone fade out of existence and waited for a few moments before moving towards the door. Before she could open it, however, a knock came to the door.

Behind the door revealed Hygelac who looked apprehensive. "Are you all right Kimberly? You looked ill."

Kimberly felt a smile tug on her lips. "Yes. I'm fine." She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you."

Hygelac slowly patted her on the back and replied, "Anything for you, my Krosa."

* * *

End Chapter 7! What'd you think? It was kind of a fast write, but I think it's all right. It's building up to something, but I don't think I gave you enough hints to anything yet...so be warned. >:)

**C2- **You know, it makes me really happy to see that people are even reading this story...but to be lovin it as you said...wow. The feeling is great! Gives me more motivation to add quicker! I'm glad you like it!

**Ghostwriter**- Don't you hate it when you see that a story has been updated and you can't get access to the new chapter?? It's happening to me right now, and I'm really upset about it! Bah! Makes me so frustrated. Is Kimberly going to be saved soon? Hmm, the line:"If I told you, I'd have to kill you" is appropriate. You'll see in due time.

**Funky In Fishnet- **I've always loved Kimberly and Jason's friendship and really believed that before Tommy showed up they would end up together...unfortunately, she found Tommy and thus ended that idea. Oh well. I'm satisfied with Tommy and Kimberly(...although the way they wrote her breaking up with him was horrible! and I want to write angry letters to whoever came up with that idea!)


	8. Drain

_i'm just a lonely ghost burning out songs of love and of violence and sorrow_

_i beg for just one more tomorrow _

_where you hold me down and fold me in deep in the heart of our sins_

_**FATA (not exact)**_

* * *

"Kimberly, come take a look at these rangers." Astronema beckoned to the brunette who was busy muttering some spells she had been working on. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Astronema was getting too obsessed with this "I must destroy the Power Rangers" thing. Personally, Kimberly thought it was only because she had failed to kill them all the first time like she thought she would. No matter how many times Kimberly told her that the Power Rangers never lose, Astronema would go out for days working on new strategies.

"What is so special about them?" Kimberly ridiculed as she watched them fighting Quantrons through a viewing screen.

Astronema pointed to one of the rangers on the team. "What do you think of the Silver Ranger?"

"Uh…he's a great fighter? Yay?" Kimberly answered quizzically. Astronema gave her an exasperated look. "What? Oh…I get it. You like him, don't you?"

A smile grew on Kimberly's face as a flush automatically appeared in Astronema's cheeks. "I can't believe it." She raised her hands up and made large gestures as she spoke, "Astronema: Princess of Evil, Miss Independent, Miss…_No-Man's Land_, likes a guy!"

"Shut up! Someone might hear you!" Astronema snipped.

Kimberly leaned over and rested her elbows on the control center panel. The rangers had won and were leaving the site. "So what are you going to do about it? Ask him on a date?"

"I haven't thought much about it…" Her voice wavered when Kimberly threw her a look. "Okay. I've thought about it a lot, but I don't know if he likes me back! I mean, yesterday when I sent that wolf monster on them, the wolf monster attacked me, and he saved me…but that doesn't mean anything right?"

"What happened afterwards?" Kimberly prodded wanting the details thinking, _Hey, I have no love life…I've gotta live through other's! _

"Uh, well, I woke up in a strange wooded area and immediately grabbed my staff for protection. Then I saw…him crouching by the fire roasting something. When I aimed my staff at him, he just smiled and stuck a marshmallow on it and made me try one. It was really good. But just because Zhane helped me doesn't mean anything right?" Astronema's eyes darted back and forth between the screen and Kimberly's stare.

"No of course not, Astro. The guy is your enemy, sworn to protect the world from you and possibly kill you in doing that, saves you from that very occurrence because a plan of your own backfires. That means absolutely nothing at all." Kimberly replied sarcastically crossing her arms. "Of _course_ it means something!"

"Really?" Astronema asked in a small voice. "You really think so?"

"I know so." Kimberly said assuredly. "If you're still not sure, then just go down there dressed in your normal garb, including normal hair because that's a dead giveaway, I'm sorry. Oh look, they're going to a movie. Here's your chance!"

Astronema beamed and bobbed her head at Kimberly who waggled her eyebrows in response. "All right. I'll see you later."

Kimberly gave her a small wave and watched her teleport to Earth. She sighed. _Ah, young love. Hmm, I think I'll explore the City of Love today,_ Kimberly thought to herself. She had found herself longing to be a part of the city that her mother called home for so long but was always interrupted before she could act on anything, either by Divatox's rants and rages, or by Astronema's requests…not that she minded spending time with the girl. She just never found any time for herself like she had before.

Her head slung low as the familiar blue haze encased her frame and the world around her disappeared. She did not look up until her feet were settled on the hard concrete of the sidewalks.

Before her, she saw the very reason why her mother moved so far away from her factual homeland in California when really her heart had always been in France, _in Paris_. Kimberly had always believed that one of the fundamental causes of her parents' divorce was because her mother was always dreaming of going somewhere far away, something her father was not willing to commit to.

Not that she loved her father any less…she just wished he would have compromised more instead of expecting her mother to give up her own dreams and live his.

But everything was as it should be now according to everyone else. Her mother was married to Pierre, an artist, and was "hitting up all the latest parties" as she had once told her daughter over the phone. And her father was happily married to a surprisingly lovely and devoted housewife and had two children with her; Kimberly had never gotten used to not being her father's baby and didn't think the time would ever come when she would entirely accept Sharon, Michael, and Anne. However, her brother Keith had welcomed them with open arms…something that maddened Kimberly the core. How could he forget about their mother so quickly?

Besides, Sharon was _too_ friendly. She had tried so hard to become Kimberly's friend, but Kimberly would have nothing of it. The overly effervescent woman, moreso than Kimberly ever had been, had made a large mistake while doing this. She had resulted to buying Kimberly presents to warm her up to the idea of them getting married. Her father tried to explain it and twist the situation into Sharon loving Kimberly so much that she wanted to win her over. Kimberly glared at the stoplight in front of her. Win her over? Like she was some prize?

Kimberly shook her head. She was still standing in the same spot she had appeared in. _Oh, dang it!_ Her hand flew up to her mouth. _I appeared right in public!_ She looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary; no one was staring at her awkwardly. She laughed a bit. Paris was just too busy to notice anything like a girl randomly popping out of thin air. _This should be called the city that never sleeps if you ask me._

She took her first step and found herself wandering down a strip of stores. Around her, people spoke the beautiful language she had found most enjoyable to learn in the books from Divatox's library.

For a motive unbeknownst to her, she found herself in a neighborhood. It took her a moment to realize where her subconscious was taking her: to her mother. Somehow, she remembered the way to her mother's home, even though she'd only been there once before.

When she finally arrived, Kimberly could not find herself able to walk up to the door and knock and something in the backyard caught her attention. It was a lovely rosebush that seemed to be a start of a lush garden. As she made her way around the side of the house, Kimberly's interest was again averted, this time by something in the window. She peered through the glass and saw her mother lying under white sheets in a white room. Kimberly frowned; it was a beautiful day. Her mother would not waste a day like this unless something was wrong.

Kimberly watched her mother cough and continue to cough; it seemed that she was choking for air, but never able to attain any. Finally, a doctor walked in with a grave look upon his face and sat on a chair beside the bed. Pierre followed soon after with a matching expression. He took her mother's hand in his and spoke to her. Moments later, her mother relaxed and seemed to drift into a sleep. Pierre and the physician exited the room and shut the door.

Confusion filled her brain as Kimberly took this all in. What was wrong with her mother? Without thinking, she teleported inside of the room and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her mother's jagged breaths. Tears filled her eyes at the painful sight.

Then, something Kimberly wasn't prepared for happened, her mother opened her eyes and stared into her daughters deep brown ones. "Kimberly?" Her eyes filled with tears.

"Mom?" Her voice trembled and the tears fell.

"Kimberly!" Kimberly fell into her mother's arms and closed her eyes.

"What's the matter, mom? Why are you so pale?" Her mother shushed her and stroked her hair.

"Kimberly, I…" Her soft voice broke off as a cough came out. "I am sick."

"With the flu or bronchitis or something?" Kimberly pulled back to look into her mother's eyes.

Her mother smiled feebly at her daughter. "You are so beautiful. Look at your hair. It's gone curly, like mine was when I was your age."

"Mom, why was there a doctor here?" Kimberly changed the subject. The way her mother was speaking was not normal. Sure, she had called her only daughter beautiful numerous times, but never did she avoid answering her questions.

"I have tuberculosis, darling." Her mother finally replied. "I'm dying."

Kimberly furrowed her eyebrows. "But can't they fix that?"

She shook her head. "It's too late for me, dear. We found out too late. Oh, my Kimberly, I'm so glad you're here."

"No!" Kimberly cried out and fell back into her mother's embrace. "Mom, you can't die!"

Her mother was too young to die. She was only in her forties. She had a full life before her. So many more adventures to live.

"We tried to get a hold of you earlier. Jason said that he nor the others had made contact with you for a while. Is anything the matter?"

Kimberly shook her head automatically, not wanting to spend her last moments with her mother talking about her own problems. She didn't dare to look up for fear that her mother would see right through her lie and to the depths of her soul. She feared that her mother would be ashamed of her for being so weak. She just wanted to push them back and pretend everything was going to be perfect again. She would be back in with her mother without a care in the world.

Her mother pushed her head back slightly and held her cheeks between her hands. She stared intently into Kimberly's eyes and softly stated, "I was waiting for you."

"What?" Kimberly choked out, her eyes searching her mothers for some hope of life. The only thing she saw was love for her daughter. Some daughter she had been. She had never taken the time to visit her own mother. She was too late now. Her mother was leaving this world and would never return.

"I am ready to go now. I would not leave without seeing my baby girl once more." Tears brimmed her mother's eyes as she spoke. "I love you."

"I love you too…Mom, please, no!" Kimberly sobbed. Her mother only smiled and closed her eyes. Kimberly sat back and watched her mother take her last breaths. Then, nothing. She backed away from her mother's lifeless form and stumbled on the chair the doctor had used before. She heard commotion outside the door and whirled her head in that direction. Pierre and the doctor would be checking on her mother soon, and she did not want anyone to witness her there. She knelt over her mother and kissed her on the forehead. A single tear fell from her eye onto her mother's petite nose.

Kimberly concentrated on her room at the lair without her gaze leaving her mother's peaceful face.

* * *

The next day Kimberly felt no motivation to get out of bed. Divatox had entered the room early in the morning yelling about something that had nothing to do with anything important and was astounded as a deeply enraged Kimberly threw her out of the room. When Hygelac entered, all he received was a curt "Go away!"

Kimberly was in no mood to talk to anyone. Of course, this was the perfect time for Astronema to show up in her bedroom. She had teleported from outside the bedroom, but had climbed up the window and hopped inside agilely.

"Kimberly, you have not answered any of my calls!" Astronema griped but halted when she saw her friend still in bed, lying face down in the pillows. "Kimberly, what's wrong?" She shook her form. "Are you sick?"

Kimberly finally turned her head towards Astronema to reveal red puffy eyes and a bright red and runny nose. "Oh, Kimberly! What's the matter?" She sat down and cradled a currently sobbing Kimberly.

"My mother died." She spoke softly after calming herself. "I visited her yesterday to find her on her deathbed."

"Oh, Kim. I'm so sorry." Astronema closed her eyes in sadness. "If it makes you feel any better, Zhane stood me up."

Kimberly exhaled a long breath and dropped her head in the pillows again. "You know what makes me feel better? Killing something. Let's go kill a Quantron or something. Even better, let's rid the world of The Queen of Self Pity herself: Divatox!"

"You think I want you to pity me?" Came a muffled reply from the pillows.

"No, definitely not. I just think you need to get your mind off of this."

"How can I? I was a horrible daughter. I never visited her, nor did I even try! Hell, I could have at least _tried_ to be involved with her life other than phone calls!" Kimberly wailed.

"I know, I know. I'm sure she understood. You said you were busy with training…she seemed like a good mother from what you have said before. She would have wanted you to continue with your dreams." Astronema inwardly surprised herself for saying that. She never had a mother of her own nor was it in her nature to be so kind to someone; then again, Kimberly was not just someone. She had grown on the Princess of Evil, breaking barriers that no other had been able to do. Still, Astronema felt proud that she could at least try to console who she considered her best friend in a time of tragedy. "Kimber, please, just come out with me. We'll practice shooting again!"

Kimberly lifted her head from the pillows somewhat and smiled faintly. "Tomorrow. But can you just leave me alone for today? I need to think."

Astronema's face dropped a bit, but she ignored the hurt feelings and nodded. "All right, but I'm taking your word for it. Tomorrow, bright and early, and you're going to listen to all the details of my day today. Ooh, Zhane is such a jerk." She grumbled the last sentence more to herself than to her companion and disappeared without a second thought.

Kimberly laid her head back on the pillow but turned her head to the side so she could stare at the scenery outside her window. A few tears escaped her eyes; some fell onto her pillow. One, however, found itself stuck in between the crater of her cheek and her nostril, but she made no effort to wipe it away.

* * *

Weeks passed by, and the pain of losing her mother dulled until she could feel it no more. Astronema consumed most of her time with the annihilation of the Power Rangers, and Divatox annoyed Kimberly more and more everyday with the subject of Astronema.

"I know you've been seeing her." Divatox accused menacingly.

"So?" Kimberly growled while pulling a pair of ripped jeans on. "What if that's a part of my plan?"

Divatox looked at her skeptically. "What plan?"

"You know, keep your friends close…but your enemies closer?" Kimberly raised an eyebrow and grabbed a black halter.

"Oh. Well, keep it up then, and I want to see results! Soon!" Divatox's shoulders loosened and she stalked out of the room.

Kimberly groaned in frustration falling backwards onto her bed. She bounced a bit before settling completely into the downy comforter. "I wonder what Astronema is up to." She whispered to herself and climbed out her window into the tree. Immediately she found herself on the Dark Fortress. However, instead of the normally cool headed girl, Astronema was yelling and knocking things over. Apparently, something had not gone well today probably involving the Power Rangers.

"Astronema?" Kimberly asked and the girl whirled around with fire burning in her eyes. "Are you all right?"

"Does it look like I'm all right?" Astronema snapped then covered her eyes with her hands. "I'm sorry. I just found out and remembered something terrible."

"Care to talk about it?" Kimberly asked lightly.

"No. Not right now." Astronema shook her head. "I just need to get out of here."

"Let's go to Earth then…" Kimberly suggested. She wanted desperately to know what was going on in the head of Astronema, but she didn't want to press.

"All right." Astronema nodded and took the shorter girl's hand. "First let me change. This might be a little absurd to be walking around in." As soon as she said the words, her clothing changed to jeans and a tank top. Her hair shortened and colored blonde as opposed to the bright blue it had been before. The two exchanged smiles and both disappeared in a mix of purple and blue.

Seconds later, they were in Angel Grove, forcing Kimberly to shudder. She was in no disguise now, so hopefully she would not have a run in with Jason again.

The girls instigated their walk silently. Kimberly occasionally glanced at her blonde friend but refused to speak first. The Princess of Darkness would speak when ready. Kimberly's thought was interrupted by a few laughs in front of her. She looked up from her feet and saw a group of teenagers, a few feet from where the couple was currently standing, each dressed in a suspicious choice of color.

She noticed that Astronema had halted walking, her gaze targeted on one in particular. Kimberly looked carefully at the group again and frowned. So these were the new Power Rangers. She had never seen them, excluding the red ranger, in person. Her eyes fell on the one dressed in red. She laughed a bit at the streaks in his long hair; hair that reminded her of Tommy. A frown formed on her features at the memory of her ex boyfriend.

Astronema grabbed her wrist as the red ranger recognized her and stopped laughing. He stared at her. "Karone?" He spoke.

Kimberly narrowed her eyes and glimpsed at her friend who stiffened at the name. She returned her attention to the rangers before her and glared. His gaze was averted to Kimberly. "Kimberly?" She blinked in response. Obviously he was the reason Astronema was in a horrible mood, and she was not very happy with the silver ranger for standing her up either. These rangers were jerks compared their predecessors.

"Andros?" The one in pink questioned, obviously confused. Kimberly smirked as she examined her. She didn't look like much competition. "Are you sure this is the best place?"

"Karone, you don't need to worry about anything." Andros told her. Kimberly inwardly snorted after pondering his name. What were his parents thinking? She looked at Astronema who had yet to speak a word. _What is going on?_

"Astronema?" Kimberly nudged her out of her daze.

"I know. We'll talk about it later, Andros." The blonde finally said. Hope filled the red ranger's eyes as she spoke these words. Astronema turned away and pulled Kimberly along with her. They didn't walk very far before Kimberly was fed up with being excluded from what was going on.

"What was _that_?" Kimberly demanded "And who's Karone?"

"I am." Astronema looked her in the eyes. "Do you remember my locket?"

Kimberly nodded, still oblivious to what was going on. "Well, inside my locket are two pictures. One of me and one of a boy, who turns out to be my brother…and the current red ranger."

"Oh…kay." Kimberly started slowly. "But that doesn't answer what is going on."

"I can't tell you everything, but I think I might plan on joining him." She held her finger up as Kimberly began to protest. "All my life I've been told I was something I'm not: evil. I just can't take this anymore. What I remembered earlier was that I was kidnapped by Darkonda. That's why I was so upset."

"But, how can you be so sure this is the right thing to do?" Kimberly argued grabbing Astronema's forearm tightly.

"Because, right after I remembered, I ran into Andros again and talked everything out with him. I became upset during the talk and returned to the fortress to relieve myself of some of the anger. That's when you showed up. Kimber, I believe him, and I want to live a normal life!" Astronema emphasized the last sentence passionately.

Kimberly took a step back breaking all contact with the two. "I…"

"Kimberly, you can come too!" Astronema smiled.

"Astronema…that life isn't for me anymore. It's in the past." Kimberly opposed weakly. "I can't go with you."

Astronema's gaze dropped with her posture. "Oh."

"I won't tell anyone though. I promise." Kimberly took another step back. "I have to go." She looked to her left and saw Andros and the other rangers still staring at the two of them intently. Her eyes narrowed, and she faded into the blue miasma, this time not caring if anyone saw her.

* * *

End chapter 8! Woo. I wrote this last night with the inspiration of Finding Neverland. Well, that and Johnny Depp. I absolutely love his work...and his looks. But that's besides the point. This wasn't the slight foreshadowing I mentioned last chapter, but I had been planning it for a while. It was perfect that Finding Neverland gave me the motivation to actually write it though.

**Daisyz**- I didn't get your review until after I had posted, I'm sorry for not mentioning you! Yeah, I stopped watching shortly after Kim left also. It just wasn't the same. I'm sad to say that with time, that hope might dwindle. But I'm not hinting or anything. hah

**C2**- Thanks! Wow, still in school?I guess today was your last day though...so that's good. What subject do you teach? My sister is a math teacher in California. This chapter might not make you as happy as the last one, but hopefully you'll still like it. :)

**Ghostwriter-**Stupid, stupid letter it was! My goodness. Although, it does seem to be a haven for fanfic writers, so maybe that was what the creator of that idea had in mind. "Hmm, I wonder what will make fans crazed and give them ideas to write stories of?" or something along those lines.

**Funky In Fishnet**- I never really watched the episodes where he and Kat dated. It pained me too much to see him with anyone else besides Kimberly. However, I do not hate the idea of them together because Kat seemed like a genuinely cool person. (I watched the Show Biz episodes again on Jetix this passed weekend. I wouldn't have been able to do what she had done) Yeah, I like writing Astronema because she's also really cool, and because Kimberly needs someone else in her life. Unfortunately, not all good things last.

**the online dreamer**- a new reader! Yay! welcome. yes, there is definitely more. I have the majority of the end chapters written, so these middle chapters are working their way up to them. I won't stop til I'm finished. :)

Thanks for the reviews!


	9. Control

"Hey, Andros, isn't that Astronema?" TJ patted him on the shoulder and pointed. Andros stopped laughing at the joke Zhane had made and followed the blue ranger's finger. She wasn't alone though.

"Who is she with?" Ashley asked, though not to anyone in particular.

His sister was standing with the girl he had met at the meeting, and she seemed to recognize him as well. "Karone?"

Karone looked scared and confused, probably because she didn't know that the others had said it was all right for them to go along with their plan.

Then again, it could be because Kimberly was shooting daggers at the team.

"Kimberly?" He continued. She didn't reply but only blinked. He frowned. This couldn't be the same girl he had met before. She was acting too different and hostile towards them. Before, he had thought she was surprised but not hateful when she found out he was a ranger. She had made no effort to capture him. He had been confused as to why she was there and had figured she was a spy as well, but now he was even more puzzled that she seemed to want nothing to do with them.

"Andros?" He heard Cassie start from behind him. "Are you sure this is the best place?"

Andros inwardly agreed, but he needed to make sure Karone knew everything was all right. "Karone, you don't need to worry about anything."

The uneasiness softened in his sisters eyes; she seemed to understand the point he was trying to get across.

"Astronema?" Kimberly nudged her out of her daze.

"I know. We'll talk about it later, Andros." She said firmly and pulled Kimberly away. The two girls stopped about fifty feet away from them and began speaking rapidly. Kimberly seemed to be angry about something, and Karone was calmly explaining the answer.

Andros hoped that if Karone was telling Kimberly anything that was going on, that it would be the right thing to do. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was different from the last time he had seen Kimberly. She seemed darker and almost scarier.

He froze when Kimberly's gaze met his again. She glowered, and a cerulean fog enveloped around her. He shuddered as he tried to push her angry eyes out of his mind. Karone turned to them and waved before disappearing herself.

"Who was that?" Ashley asked again, this time directed at Andros.

"That was the girl I told you guys about." He clarified.

"You mean, the girl at the evil villain meeting?" Carlos added and waited for Andros to acknowledge the fact. "But I thought you said she seemed good?"

"I said I wasn't sure about where her loyalties lie." Andros rectified. "Something is different now than what was different before."

"She seems…burdened by something." Zhane inserted his own opinion. "Something tragic must have happened or is happening right now."

"When did you become so intuitive?" Cassie joked.

"I have my moments." He smirked proudly.

Andros laughed at his best friend and thought of everything that had happened in the past few days. Looks like things were looking up for him and the other rangers now that he had found his sister and Karone had come out of her Astronema persona. One issue still concerned him in spite of this: Kimberly. He wanted to help her or at least understand her. He made a mental note to drill his sister about her apparent best friend later and joined the conversation that Carlos had struck up.

* * *

A few days later Divatox barged into Kimberly's room. She had a very stern look upon her face. "Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Kimberly asked, guessing it was about Astronema's disappearance.

"Astronema was captured by the Power Rangers, much to my joy, but now she's escaped and is worse than ever! She just banned me from driving a spaceship again!" Divatox whined.

"Looks like she did the universe a favor. You were never that great of a driver anyway." Kimberly replied yawning. _I guess she changed her mind about crossing over. Weird that she didn't tell me though. _"Um, I'll be right back. PMS." Kimberly lied.

She ran out of the room and found the nearest window to climb out of. There was no tree, so she just jumped out despite the height and prayed that she could teleport quickly. Luckily, she had performed the act enough to do well under pressure.

She landed in a crouch in Astronema's room in the Dark Fortress. She grinned when she saw Astronema sitting in front of her vanity. Kimberly noticed that her hair was cut extremely short and was colored red. She snuck up on her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Boo!"

Astronema jumped and grabbed her staff. She whirled around, knocking Kimberly onto her butt. Kimberly frowned in bewilderment. "Don't ever do that again!" Astronema glared at her with more venom than Kimberly had ever seen before.

"I'm…sorry?" Kimberly stammered.

"What are you doing here?" Astronema cut her off before she could say anything more.

"I came to say hi! I heard about the whole Ranger thing and wanted to know the details!" Kimberly began to get up, but Astronema pressed the end of her staff into Kimberly's chest to push her back down.

"You are not welcome here." She murmured forebodingly.

"What are you talking about?"

"You are everything I was raised against, Power Ranger." She spat out the last words with acrimony.

"But, I'm not a Power Ranger anymore, Astro…" Kimberly began but was again shushed by her alleged best friend.

"Do not speak to me as if we are equals. _I_ am the Princess of Darkness, and _you, _well, you are nothing." She derided. "Get out."

Kimberly used her elbows to push her backwards and nodded. She stared at her now former companion completely baffled by her behavior. She noticed a metal device on her forehead, much like her own yet a smaller version, and frowned at the sight. What was wrong with her?

Astronema thrust the staff forward warningly and continued to glower. Kimberly decided against questioning her and pictured the back steps of the castle.

After appearing there, she stood up cautiously as if Astronema was still pointing her staff at her. She walked to her room, looking at the tiles, trying to contemplate what just happened. Kimberly flung her doors open and jumped when she saw Divatox sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Sorry that took so long; you know, girl problems." Kimberly paused. "Or do you?"

She couldn't remember if Divatox had ever told her where she was from, and if she was indeed an alien if they had the monthly friend like women from earth did.

"I had one more thing to tell you." Divatox said tersely. "Let me recall it."

"Shoot." Kimberly concurred as Divatox tapped her finger to her chin.

"Oh, yes, I had to pay a nice visit to Dark Specter this morning. Something to do with a defiance against a certain Princes of Darkness?" Divatox's eyes darkened. "What did you tell Astronema?"

Kimberly froze. "What's it to you?"

Divatox grabbed Kimberly by the hair and yanked her out of bed. "You're coming with me."

"Ow! That hurts!" Kimberly winced as she was dragged across the castle.

"This'll teach you to deceive _me_!" Divatox yelled throwing her to the floor. Kimberly winced as her shoulder made contact with the hard stone floor. She pushed herself up with her forearm, but was pushed down again by Divatox's boot. A familiar device was in her hand. "I never used this full blast before. The highest I ever used was the 5th level and on a giant." She glanced at Hygelac who had just appeared in the door. "And his mind was completely fried. I wonder what level 10 would do to a human girl?"

A horrified expression formed on Kimberly's face as the world seemed to close in on her. She was going to die today. Why did Astronema betray her? She had been so cruel before, but to actually sentence her to death by giving up information she had trusted to tell?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hygelac start for Divatox as she raised her finger to press the button, but he was too late. Her finger was much quicker than his feet. Everything was happening too fast for Kimberly to comprehend, and before she knew it Divatox was firmly pressing on the button with a malicious sneer decorating her features.

When she had been "electrocuted" previously, it had started as an itchy feeling from inside of her head, but this time the pain came immediately at full force. Everything suddenly went silent except for a buzz in the back of her mind, and Kimberly's head fell back so that her face was staring at the ceiling. She tried with all her might to force her head to face the woman whose name she could not remember at the moment, but instead she fell backwards onto the floor. It was like she was detached from her body; she knew something horrible was coursing through her body, but she could vaguely feel it. She began thanking God for inventing the little thing called "going into shock" when in immense pain. Her vision blurred in and out until the buzzing sound halted and the pain increased rapidly. The last thing she could remember before blacking out was her mouth opening and a shadow peering over her body and calling something out to her.

* * *

Kimberly shot up and let out a deafening scream. She swiped at the sweat that covered her face and looked around only to see a white blur. She looked at her trembling hands and brought her fingers to her mouth to chew on the nails. Her surroundings finally came into focus; she was in her bed and the birds were chirping much to her annoyance.

She looked out her open window and glared at the bluebird that was chirping away. To her surprise it stopped in mid-chirp and fell out of the tree. She cocked her head to the side and climbed out of bed to take a look. Kimberly peered over the edge and saw the bird lying motionless on the grass. A laugh bubbled from her throat, and she marveled at the resonant sound.

A draft entered the room, and she realized she had nothing on. She casually walked to the closet and stepped into a pair of leather pants, forgetting the underwear. Next she put on a leather tank top and laced the sides. To complete her outfit, she pulled knee high, high heel boots on.

_Hmm. What to do on a lovely day like this?_ She exited her room and began walking towards Divatox's throne room only to bump into Hygelac on the way.

He let out a breath and grabbed her biceps. "Kimberly, you've awakened!"

"Of course I have." She shrugged his hands off her arms. "How long have I been out?"

"For a few days." Hygelac replied sullenly. "I thought you had died."

Kimberly snorted and waved her hand carelessly. "It will take a lot more than electrocution to kill me off. Tell me, why did Divatox end so soon?"

Hygelac's head dropped as he blushed slightly. "I shoved her after she pressed the button. She killed my brother using that device. That was the giant she was talking about."

Kimberly's eyebrows furrowed. She had killed Hygelac's brother? Was that the reason why Hygelac served her now? She glared. He would not be enslaved to her long, nor would she. She gently pushed Lac to the side and strolled to the library.

She entered the room boisterously and sniggered when she saw that she had startled Divatox.

"You're still _alive_?" Divatox exclaimed.

Kimberly ignored her and headed to the fiction novels. She was in no mood to talk to that…thing at the moment.

She tapped each spine of the books until she found the one she wanted. "Ah, here you are." She whispered to herself and smiled satisfied at her finding. She opened the book and began reading as she walked back towards her room.

* * *

**Don't you mess  
****With a little girl's dream  
****'Cause she's liable to grow up  
****Mean**

Later that night, Kimberly plopped down on Divatox's throne and carelessly swung one leg over the arm. She opened a book she had grabbed and continued to read. As she read, she also thought about her day- from the moment she woke up to this very second.

Something was different about her. She could feel the darkness in the pits of her stomach. It was as if a part of her, from the very depths of her, had been released when Divatox had sent those thousand bolts of electricity through her body. Something almost evil. She knew that her thoughts had been the cause of that bird's death this morning, not just some freak occurrence. However, she was definitely not complaining at the new aggressive manner she had.

Divatox entered the room and scowled at the brunette. "What are you doing?"

"I was just wondering what it was like to sit in the Seat of Power." Kimberly replied innocently. "Why? Does this bother you…_master_?"

The leg over the arm bounced up and down, further agitating the diva.

"No." Divatox replied tartly. She cocked her head. Hygelac entered the room, but remained near the entrance. Something peculiar was going on. "What book are you reading now?"

**Surprise you to find that I'm laughing?  
****You thought that you'd find me in tears.  
****You thought I'd be crawling  
****The walls like a tiny mosquito  
****And trembling in fear.**

Kimberly smirked but continued reading. "Oh, it's Star Wars. It's _very_ interesting. You should read it."

"An Earth book? Interesting?" Divatox didn't know why she was asking; she felt compelled to. The leg kept her in some sort of trance. Up and down.

"Yes, do you know what it's about?" When Divatox shook her head, Kimberly elaborated, "In general, it's about space wars. But that's not the interesting part. What really intrigues me is the part about the enemy Darth Vader. He was good once, but then he was driven evil. Even more interesting, he surpassed his master and later killed him." Kimberly finally looked up from her chapter with a glint in her eye. Her leg stopped bouncing. She closed her book and threw it aside then stood up. "Isn't that fascinating?"

Divatox glared at the brunette. "Sounds great." She paused as Kimberly circled her slowly. "What are you doing?"

**Well, you may be king for the moment  
****But I am a queen understand  
****And I've got your pawns and your bishops and  
****castles  
****All inside the palm of my hand.**

"Studying you." Kimberly responded slowly.

Divatox's head rotated with Kimberly. "Why?"

"I'm sizing you up." Kimberly admitted. "How come, with all my training, I have never sparred against you? How did someone like _you_ become the Queen of Darkness? I have never seen you fight."

"I earned my way up." Divatox did not like how this conversation was going.

"How? You must know some pretty important guys." She stopped moving and folded her arms.

"I didn't sleep my way to the top if that's what you are suggesting." Divatox defended herself. She might be evil, but she had dignity.

Laughter burst through Kimberly's lips. "Like anyone would want that."

Divatox rumbled. On impulse, she slapped the girl before her, the sound echoing throughout the room. Kimberly's head was still turned to the side, a surprised look on her face. Gradually, she returned her gaze to her master.

Instead of retaliation, like Divatox thought, Kimberly looked as if nothing had happened. The only reminder was the redness forming on the right side of her face.

After a few moments of silence, Kimberly opened her mouth and stated menacingly, "Wouldn't it be funny, if the book became reality?"

**While you were looking the other way  
****While you had your eyes closed  
****While you were licking your lips  
****'Cause I was miserable  
****While you were selling your soul  
****While you were tearing a hole  
****in me  
****I was taking control**

Divatox glowered. "What?"

The two stared as if they were participating in a staring contest, and the loser would be executed. In this case, that ending may be the case.

"You know I don't repeat myself. I was loud and clear." She turned her back and examined the room, "Now, what would it be like if I added some pink in here. This place is _so_ dreary."

"Over my dead body." Divatox warned ominously.

Kimberly looked over her shoulder with a sly smile. Divatox shuddered at the cold stare. She was not used to being on the receiving end.

**This is beginning to feel good  
****Watching you squirm in your shoes  
****A small bead of sweat on your brow  
****And a growl in your belly  
****Your scared to let through  
****You thought you could keep me from loving  
****You thought you could feed on my soul  
****But while you were busy destroying my life  
****What was half in me has become whole.**

"As you wish." Kimberly now completely faced her opponent. "Let's see if you really deserve to be the Queen."

Kimberly took advantage of Divatox's perplexity and kicked her in the stomach sending the pirate lady back into a wall. The impact made a crunching sound and the older woman winced. She had not fought in years, mostly because there was no need to.

"This is your biggest mistake, girl." Divatox warned, clambering to her feet.

"We'll see about that." Kimberly readied herself for an attack.

Divatox wasted no time before charging with a warrior call. Kimberly anticipated her rush and stooped over. Before Divatox could change her course, she found herself colliding with the smaller woman, and rolled over her back. She landed on her own hind side and grimaced. Kimberly took this moment to kick her in the ribcage.

Instead of climbing to her feet, Divatox swung one of her legs and grunted when it made contact with Kimberly's knees. Kimberly cried out as her joints locked, forcing her to stagger backwards. Her back hit the wall, and she began to worry seeing that she was now backed into a corner. Divatox pulled herself up by grabbing onto a tableside and started towards Kimberly step by step, as if this was not a serious predicament.

"So, Kimberly, you must now realize how stupid you truly are." Divatox began shrewdly. "Too bad you won't be able to improve yourself this time."

**Come a little bit closer...  
****Let me look at you  
****I gave you the benefit of the doubt, it's true  
****But keep in mind my darling  
****Not every saint is a fool!**

Kimberly glanced at her sides, her mind working overtime to figure out way of escape. Something bright on the wall caught her eye and without thinking, she grabbed and hurled it at Divatox's advancing body.

Divatox shrieked in horror as the torch hit her and the fire caught her outfit. She thrashed aimlessly trying to put out the flames that were spreading towards her face. She screamed again and again until she found a pitcher of water. In one swift movement, she grabbed the pitched and dumped all the contents onto herself. Smoke immediately replaced the flames. Divatox dropped to the ground and heaved in great breaths, taking a few moments to recuperate.

As all this was happening, Kimberly could only stare at her adversary in complete wonder that she had been able to do such a thing to another being. She, in fact, found herself enjoying Divatox's screeches of agony, a feeling that was entirely new to the former heroin of the world.

"You…destroyed my beautiful body!" Divatox frenzied.

She quickly recovered and curled her burned leg around Kimberly's ankles, forcing her to stumble to the ground. The Pirate Queen fired a solid punch at the girl's face and threw her head back in laughter as Kimberly was sent rolling.

Kimberly ended the roll on her stomach. She found Divatox's location and stared at her in amazement. Divatox had a look of pure rage and vengeance.

**All those things you taught me to fear  
****I've got them in my garden now and  
****you're not welcome here  
****Come here**

The smaller girl ran to her opponent with shocking speed and threw a hasty punch after reaching her. A quick roundhouse into Divatox's jaw sent her flying. The gymnast lurched forward in order to be near when Divatox hit the ground.

Kimberly fell to her knees, feeling the exhaustion creeping through her muscles. She crawled closer and peered into the dazed woman's eyes. She raised both her arms up and clasped her fists together. With one last fleeting look, she brought her fists down as hard as she could and shut her eyes as they made impact with the bone of Divatox's face. She continued to beat down on the woman's face until she could no longer feel her arms.

Then she felt something pull her off her former superior's body and drag her back. She pushed the being away and sat with her knees bent to the side.

Kimberly stared at the badly beaten body in front of her, breathing heavily. She wiped the wetness off of her brow and above her mouth. Before collapsing herself, she whispered, "And the student becomes the master."

**While you were looking the other way  
****While you had your eyes closed  
****While you were licking your lips  
****'Cause I was miserable  
****While you were selling your soul  
****While you were tearing a hole  
****in me  
****I was taking control**

* * *

Okay, Boo. I'm very angered right now. I just had all this edited and replied to all your reviews and when I pressed "save" it DELETED everything I did. Rar!!! I typed a lot in those replies too. Oh well. 

I hope this didn't go too fast, because personally I thought it was dragging a bit and felt the need to speed things up. If it it's too fast, please tell!

**Goddess Achlys-** A new reader!Yay!I'm not quite sure if there will be romance in this story, partly because I don't see any room for it and partly because I have no inspiration to write lovey dove. Hah. Although, that could change tomorrow. ;-)

**the online dreamer-** me too! Although I have so much written out and the ending planned out, I keep getting more and more ideas everyday, so who knows where this will take me. hah :)

**C2-** How odd! My sister teaches math for high school age as well. Before everything was deleted, I had this really long chat to you, but I can't remember what it said. :- It was pretty clever and about PrIS. Oh well. I'll remember it sometime hopefully.

**Ghostwriter-** Well, she still has her memories, they're just clouded with the doubts that Divatox spread and because her mind is becoming twisted with the time that is passing...if that sentence made sense. ::shrug::

**Daisyz-**Yes, Johnny Depp. He is a fine man. I hope I age that well. Actually, her mother dying will be an opposite effect, and Astronema becomes brainwashed by Dark Specter in PrIS, so that won't convince her either. Darn.

**Funky In Fishnet**- I think you realize more about my story than I do. It is kind of funny that Astronema, Princess of Darkness, would choose good and Kimberly, basically the heart of goodness (for the original PR anyway), chooses the life of evil. You're almost right about her mother's death being a final straw, but there's still one more thing after freeing herself from Divatox's reign.

**foasys.scaper-** woo! _Another_ new reader! Good, I'm really glad that you can imagine this. I didn't want to add too much detail because it has always annoyed me when authors don't leave anything for the imagination, but I didn't want to leave everyone hanging either. I just realized that, although no where near the quality, it's kind of like Tolkien's writing; he describes just so much and leaves everything else be. (Then again, he also invents languages and races, and so on)

**Lovers of D and J3-** A third new reader...in one chapter! _YAY :)_ This makes me so excited. Darn AOL. I used to have it, but it kept freezing up as well...and it wasn't very fast. Now we have roadrunner and I hate the mail system. I guess nothing can ever be perfect though. C'est la vie. Don't worry, I'll definitely be finishing this story. It's been swimming in my head for a couple months now and won't leave me alone until it's done. Stupid mind.

Thanks so much for all the reviews!


	10. Limit

_Nobody heard him, the dead man,  
__But still he lay moaning:  
__I was much further out than you thought  
__And not waving but drowning.  
__  
__Poor chap, he always loved larking  
__And now he's dead  
__It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,  
__They said._

_Oh, no no no, it was too cold always  
__(Still the dead one lay moaning)  
__I was much too far out all my life  
__And not waving but drowning._

_

* * *

_

She gazed at the woman breathing on the cot behind the bars with indifference. The past events had yet to sink in, and all Kimberly could do was watch Hygelac try to mend the wounds afflicted on Divatox's badly damaged body.

When she had woken up, she thought she had killed the Pirate Lady and threw up in disgust. Her innocence might have been besmirched, but she was not evil. And she was definitely no murderer. As soon as Hygelac informed her that he had transferred Divatox to a healing room, Kimberly let out a sigh of relief.

Presently this is where she could be found for most of the days, monitoring the woman's recovery. Something inside of her had snapped that night for her to attack Divatox, but she could no longer remember what it was. It seemed that after taking her revenge out on Divatox silenced the evil spirit that was dwelling inside of her.

Unfortunately, she knew it would not last much longer. Kimberly shuddered inwardly at the thought of what was happening to her. Half of her mind was telling her that she was a Power Ranger, fighting for the greater good of all people. The other half reminded her that people were the cause of all the pain she experienced, so they deserved the punishment of her wrath. _Besides_, the voice would say, _what is the definition of good and evil? Who in the beginning of time set the line? _

Everyday she found it harder to shut the voice up, but everyday she somehow managed to overcome the whispers that filled her mind.

She eyed her communicator and sighed. When would this feeling stop?

"We should spar tonight, Krosa." Hygelac proposed as he sat down in one of the large leather chairs beside Kimberly's. He had lit a fire to give them warmth since it was wintertime and there was no electric heater in the castle. Kimberly found herself bundling up even when she was just taking a stroll in the castle hallways.

"We should. We haven't for a while." Kimberly accepted and looked at him. He was so much like a father figure to her now, like Zordon had been when she had been a ranger. Her thoughts turned to Zordon. _I wonder if he is still trapped in the Dark Fortress. _This thought caused her to snort a bit. _It's not like he could run very far. _

"Kimberly…" The use of her truthful name disrupted her relaxed mood. Hygelac only used it when he had something serious to say. "You have been acting strangely."

"What do you mean, Lac?" She asked skeptically. Inside, she knew what he meant. She had been secluding herself from the world, brooding over things inside her head that he did not know of, and had thrown herself into various books of both nonfiction and fantasy.

Kimberly now avoided her pirate foe whenever possible, instead of simply ignoring her ranting and raving. Now that the diva had been imprisoned in one of the dungeons after recovering, she was worse than before. She complained constantly about how Kimberly had ruined her beautiful body when Kimberly knew very well that Hygelac had been able to heal most of the burns. One can only take so much of someone so self-absorbed before cracking, thus, Kimberly found herself steering clear her once "master."

"I want you to have something." He pulled a tiny wooden box out of one of his pockets. Kimberly leaned forward to have a look at the content in his hand.

"What is it?" She asked curiously. Carefully, he opened the lid and pulled out a black necklace. He handed it to her and grinned at her amazement. "A crane?" She remarked at the black pendant with a crane etched into the circle.

"Yes, a crane." He lingered on that statement for a minute then continued on. "This necklace has been in my family for generations. It has been a tradition to pass it on to our kin, but I have no biological offspring; I consider you family now, and I want you to have it. I also found it…fitting that your animal spirit is the crane."

Tears filled her eyes as she gazed at the beautiful design. "It's beautiful." But it's yours! What will you wear?" She declared. She did not want him to regret giving it to her later. It was so beautiful and obviously had an immense importance behind it.

"I have a medallion that I am forced to wear." He looked into the fire. "It is my mark of servitude to Divatox."

"But you do not need to wear it any longer then! I have ridden of that burden!" Kimberly protested.

"No…I made a deal with her long ago that I would serve her…until death… if she did not kill my brother. She agreed, but gave me this medallion that gave me eternal life, but imprisoned me to her command." He pulled a medallion from beneath his shirt. It was large and round with a gold linked chain. The pendant was gold as well decorated with blue, green, and red designs. In the middle was a lion.

"You said she killed your brother…" Kimberly began.

"Yes, she broke the pact when my brother came to save me. When I confronted her, she disregarded me saying that the medallion was made specifically for me and I was now bound to her by its powers. I cannot wear the family pendant any longer, for my name is no longer my own." He finished softly. "Will you wear it?"

She nodded and clasped the beaded chain around her neck. Fingering the pendant, she replied softly, "Always."

* * *

_The cracks in the sidewalk really need to be fixed. _Kimberly groaned as she pulled her heel out of one. This was really a hindrance to her sophistication. Normally, she stayed away from the streets. Ever since her mother had died, she had no desire to explore the streets.

Currently, she was in Angel Grove on a mission to find out what Astronema was up to. She had heard through Hygelac that Astronema had sent thousands of Quantrons and Cogs on the earth, predominantly in Angel Grove.

She hated crowds. It wasn't the fact that she was short and it was hard to see or that she commonly found herself feeling enclosed in large groups of people, but the thought of being surrounded by so many hypocritical humans appalled her.

Someone grabbed at her skintight black pants. "Get off me!" She shoved the snickering teenager away. Honestly, how any guy could behave that way in a time like this was beyond her. As she continued on, she could hear shouts growing louder.

"Bring the rangers… _to me…_ by morning, or you will suffer!" She heard a woman call out. Kimberly figured this was Astronema speaking considering it had to do with the rangers and everyone shuddered simultaneously.

Finally, she pushed herself through the front row and turned her attention upwards. There, in all her evil glory, stood the Princess of Darkness, glowering at the city that refused to cooperate. Kimberly snorted. She was just like every other villain- expecting the world to bow at her feet without deserving their servitude.

Subconsciously, she fingered the necklace Lac had given to her. Already she had grown quite attached to it, almost as protective as Astronema was to her locket. Kimberly surveyed the crowd in search of the Power Rangers. She clucked her tongue as she did so. _Where would they be?_

Somebody tapped her on her shoulder. She whirled around and saw something she had never dreamed of seeing again. Still, her features remained emotionless.

"Kimberly?" The man questioned skeptically. He studied her, and she scowled at his gawk. "It's me! Skull!"

"I don't know who you are talking about." She replied firmly. Inside, she laughed at the irony of this. Her best friends couldn't recognize her with a few changes in her appearance, but the one person who she had never bothered to get to know could recognize her instantly.

"Oh…I'm sorry. I must have been mistaken." His eyes dimmed disappointedly as his shoulders drooped. For a moment, she felt sorry that she had never been kinder to the class clown. Then she remembered that he had helped on a numerous accounts to make her life miserable with Bulk.

"Yes. You were." Kimberly returned tersely and proceeded to escape this awkwardness. Unfortunately, she could prove once again that she had the worst luck in the world and ran right into Bulk.

"Excuse me." He stated briskly and without a second glance moved ahead. Kimberly turned around and stared, stunned, as the two walked away. He obviously had matured over the years.

The rumblings of an engine caused her attention to avert to the sky once again. Astronema was leaving on the Dark Fortress. "Stupid move, Astro. What do you think you're doing? You can't leave when you have the upper hand."

She felt something tug at her cami top. A little dark haired boy was standing there, with a fistful of her shirt. "I can't see."

She sighed and felt her heart soften a bit. Kids always had a place in her heart. Immediately she bent down and picked him up, resting him on her hip. "What's happening?"

"Well, Astronema is leaving for the night. Tomorrow morning she'll be back for the Power Rangers." Kimberly summarized.

"What will she do to them?" His big blue eyes pulled her in. She sighed, not knowing quite how to answer this question.

"Um…I'm not quite sure." She lied. There was no way she could describe what could possibly be their sentence to anyone, let alone an innocent child.

"When I grow up I want to be a Power Ranger." He declared proudly puffing out his chest.

"Oh, do you?" She grinned outwardly but grimaced on the inside. This attitude was becoming very hard to maintain. "What color?"

"The black one. They always seem the coolest!" He used large hand motions to emphasize his point causing Kimberly to chuckle. This was not a fake chuckle. Zack and Adam would have loved to hear that.

"Tell me, why would you want to be a Power Ranger?" Kimberly inquired.

"They're my heros. They kick _butt_!" He concluded with a thoughtful, yet mischevious face. Kimberly grimaced, but quickly recovered.

"Orlando!" A strained feminine voice hollered in their direction. Kimberly glanced up and saw a curly blond haired woman standing with her hands on her hips. "You scared me half to death running off like that!"

Orlando looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry, mom."

"Were you bothering this lady?" His mother questioned sternly. The boy flushed a bit, but shook his head in defense.

"No, he was a complete angel. I guess he just wanted to see the action." Kimberly elaborated.

"Thank you so much." The woman replied and took Orlando from Kimberly's arms. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes as she watched the mother and son communicate while walking away. She would never again be able to hold her mother's hand.

"They are just as flawed as any other human." Kimberly muttered about the boys dream.

"Kimberly?" Another familiar voice asked from behind her. She stiffened and cautiously spun around to face the voice.

"Yes?" She asked curtly. "What do you want."

"Kim, you have to help my sister!" The red ranger grabbed her shoulders gently. She shivered at the contact and pushed him off of her.

"That's your job." She paused and added, "Power Ranger."

The sorrow in his eyes was obvious to the former ranger, but she felt no mercy towards the kid. "But, you are her friend!"

"And you are her brother, yet she still betrayed you. I will help no one." Kimberly objected.

"I don't understand you." Andros started to continue but stopped himself. He began to turn around to find his friends, but Kimberly pulled his shoulder forcing him to face her.

"What do you mean?" She demanded. This red ranger was very peculiar. There was no sight of the other rangers. Why would he come to her alone? In a way, he reminded her of Tommy of the way he seemed to be a loner in times of sorrow. He probably blamed himself for what happened to Astronema, whatever did happen.

"You say you are her friend, but you do nothing to help her when she needs people who love her the most. There is something different about you. I can feel it. You're not like the others." He hesitated again. "What is your story?"

One of her fists clenched together in agitation. Was that any of his business? _No_. She answered herself. "That is none of your concern." She looked into the sky…there was no sign of the Dark Fortress. "As for Astronema, she ended our friendship months ago."

"Kim, she's been brainwashed!" Andros protested. "She doesn't know what she's doing!"

"Brainwashed?" She tenderly fingered the metal piece on her forehead. She remembered that Astronema now had one as well. Was this what the piece was? A brainwashing device? And she hadn't known it all this time?

"Kimberly, is that what happened to you?" Andros questioned quickly as if he had discovered something.

Her eyes squinted in frustration. That couldn't be it. She still had all her memories, and the changes in her personality had been slow to progress. Brainwashing would only take a few moments. Her eyes snapped up when he spoke her name again. "No! Leave me alone. You are the reason why this happened to her! She was willing to go with you and obviously something went wrong and now look what's happened to her!"

Before he could say any more to her, she turned on her heel and stalked away.

* * *

"We. Are the Power Rangers!" Kimberly sat on the roof of a building, shocked that the rangers had revealed their true identities- that, and the fact that the citizens had risked their own lives by shouting out false proclamations that they were the Power Rangers.

"They've broken the rules!" She whispered harshly.

She watched as the Power Rangers battled against the Quantrons and as the civilians revolted with them.

_Where is Andros?_ There was no sign of the red ranger anywhere. A chuckle escaped passed her lips. _Coward. He's less like Tommy than I thought_.

"Krosa, what are you doing up here?"

"Nothing, Lac, just enjoying the view." Her eyes sparkled as the fight continued.

"Kimberly, I have a feeling we should leave." He advised watchfully. "You no longer have favor with Astronema."

"I know…I know." Kimberly sighed and pushed herself onto her feet. She took Hygelac's hand and jumped off the edge of the building. She loved the feeling of adrenaline pulsing through her veins when she did something out of the ordinary. A few moments later, both she and Hygelac landed in a crouch. Unfortunately, they landed right in front of the Power Rangers, who stared at her and her companion in horror.

"Not you!" The pink ranger cried out. The others found a comfortable fighting stance.

Kimberly guffawed. "Relax. I have nothing against you." She started to push through them, but the black ranger shoved her back. She heard Hygelac growl with defense.

"You can't leave now." The yellow ranger said. "We need you here! Andros believes in you."

Kimberly glared and shoved the girl's hand off her shoulder. The black ranger kicked her in the middle forcing her back. "We cannot let you go!" Before she could react, Hygelac had swung a piece of plywood at the rangers.

Behind her, she saw the silver ranger shooting at Hygelac. Immediately, she whirled around and threw him back with her powers. She was too late, however, Hygelac had already lost his temper.

The silver ranger and her accomplice began fighting at full force. She watched in horror as Astronema's ex love interest knocked the only person she loved off his feet. She threw her gaze back at the other rangers. "Look what you've done."

They did not return her stare because they had already continued fighting other Quantrons. She lost Hygelac and the silver ranger as people filtered in between them, fighting off as many robots as they could. Then something strange happened. Every Quantron and villain froze in mid punch. Kimberly turned in circles, watching as the scene unfolded. Finally, all the frozen enemies turned into stone and shattered into particles of dust.

She saw a slightly visible airwave coming at her and lifted her arms to watch as it passed through her middle. Nothing happened. She turned around found that the Power Rangers were now powered down and surveying the setting in awe.

Kimberly found the location of Zhane and frowned when she realized Hygelac was nowhere in sight. When his eyes found hers, she saw the confusion in his gaze. Immediately, worry filled her heart. "Where is he?"

His eyes fell upon a heap of dust in front of him. Her heart dropped, but she refused to believe that meant anything. Against her will, her legs moved towards the dust pile and bent down. She fingered the dust and looked up at the silver ranger again. Sorrow seemed to fill his eyes and it dawned on her. This was the remains of Hygelac, her father figure, the only one who had truthfully loved and helped her. Her fingers felt something metal and automatically grasped it. She pulled her hand out of the dust and saw the medallion. A sad grin appeared on her face. "You are free."

A sob escaped her. Zhane backed away and left her there to mourn the death of her mentor. Slowly, she stood up with the medallion still in her clutches. She wandered in the direction of where Zhane had walked off.

The Dark Fortress had landed, and Andros was carrying Astronema in his arms. Another sob found its way passed her lips as she watched her best friend being set on the ground. She was not moving. Kimberly pushed her way through the crowed until she was in the front. She was close enough to hear their tears, but far enough away to stay unnoticed.

To her surprise, the Princess of Darkness, although lying lifeless, morphed back into her natural appearance. Kimberly heard Andros gasp in his own shock. Then, another miracle, Astronema sat up. "Andros? Where am I? How did I get here?"

Kimberly's eyes dropped to the medallion. She was also set free from her burden. Now, Kimberly had truly lost her. Their lifestyles would be too different to continue anything. In these moments, Kimberly's heart hardened. A glare formed on her features as she heard explanations of how he had to shatter Zordon's tube and that had caused all the villains to turn to dust. Zordon was officially dead. Both of her father figures were gone and all because of this one boy. "You stole the two people I cared about. This will not be the last."

She pulled the chain of the medallion over her head and ripped off her communicator. All it meant was hope. She had no hope. It had been stolen from her.

She stared as all the people rejoiced at the defeat of the Dark Specter, Astronema, and all the other evil villains. They had been saved by the Power Rangers once again. Everything was going so fast, a blurr. Hate filled her heart. Hygelac wasn't evil. Why did he have to die? He was only trying to protect her from harm! If she had survived, then why didn't he? Why was everyone celebrating when she was filled with so much sorrow? Didn't they realize that this was no victory?

She dropped the silver bracelet with the pink gem on the concrete and crushed it with her boot. Pink electricity sparked around the bracelet but stopped after a few seconds. She kicked the pieces and watched as they skidded towards the rangers who were walking away. Andros turned around when one of the pieces hit his leg. He bent down and picked up the large gem and looked up. His puzzled stare met hers. She turned around and lost herself in the crowd, so he could not follow her.

Nothing could save her now. The waves she had been swimming against had finally won. Evil had drowned her. She was too far out and too far gone.

* * *

**C2**- Hah, but she isn't! I didn't feel like I had the right to kill off such a major character. Especially since the series actually showed how she ended in this scene. We might see more of her later... ;-) More Astronema and Kimberly as well, but I'm not sure how the next layout will be. I'm still trying to work that out.

**Goddess Achlys-** Sorry, I didn't post soon! It seems life has caught up with me. Boo. Thanks for the compliment! I think writing the fight scenes are the hardest for me, because I have so much going in my head and putting it all on paper is "freakin" hard. Hah

**Funky in Fishnet**- Yeah, she always was an emotional girl, or at least, that's how I saw her. My favorite episodes surrounding her had to be the ones about her letting her emotions out. Made her more real. I like adding other people's POVs occasionally; it makes my job easier on getting things across rather than just having one person talking the whole time. Although, I think if I were to write another fanfic, I'd do first person to put more sarcasm in. Hah.

**childofdarkness1988-** Ooh, I like the username! Dark and mysterious. You're only a year younger than me too. It's been a couple weeks now, since I've actually done major work on the story, so yeah..a pretty long time. Although, I do have the majority written. And I have been trying to keep the events correct...it's hard to do when I haven't seen every single episode, and the ones that I have seen for almost a decade! Can you believe PR has been out for a decade??Anyway, thanks for reading!

**Daisyz-** Yes, yes, she did indeed kick arse. I was tired of the "TOMMY!" Kim that she seemed to be stereotyped into. Just like Kat. I always felt bad for the two of them because they fell so easily into that category.Bah. However, when I was younger, I completely ignored the fact that she was always the damsel in distress and at recess would make up some story about how she was the strongest and was soooo independent. Haha. Gotta love elementary school.

_Sorry I haven't updated for a while!_ I've gone through a period of "eh, I'll do it later" when it comes to updating..which is kind of funny considering I had it all typed out. I just was too lazy to upload it! hah. The last week of Christmas Break was really busy! I was reconnected with a classmate who moved to Zimbabwe after kindergarten, and spent a lot of time with him, his family, and my friend Whitney. They have _really_ cool stories to tell. That, and they loved my music, so I had to spend hours dealing with which CDs to burn. Anyway, in short, they are in Seattle now and going to back to Africa within the next week, so I won't see them for quite some time. Well, until I go visit them this summer or the next. (haha _woo! _i'm so excited).

School all right. Hectic, yetboring...but when has that ever been different?


	11. Return

_

* * *

__There he sat, shivering with the arms of death around him, while the black veil hung down. -Nathaniel Hawthorne

* * *

_

Why she was standing where she was at that moment was beyond her…and with a single red rose. She looked up at the overcast sky and sighed. Maybe she wanted to prove her eyes wrong. The old Angel Grove newspapers were wrong; they had received the wrong information or the wrong person.

But seeing this forced her to believe that it was true. Everything she had read was true, from the day that Andros' Power Rangers had saved the universe to this current day, almost half a decade later.

She had kept records of everything, disappearing from Earth but not completely. Yet, somehow, over the years, this significant piece of information seemed to have slipped passed her. She had been skimming through old newspapers, published five years before and before she had begun taking records of Angel Grove and her friends, and stumbled across one that had her face smack dab in the middle of the front page.

It was a pretty little thing. She scoffed at the quote etched into the gray stone that marked her existence on earth. However, she could not grasp why it was ever made. Had they all given up on her so easily? Did they really view her as that weak? Six years may have passed since any of her friends had seen her, but could that not be because she could not stand them any longer? Did her life really revolve around theirs so strongly that they would come to these conclusions automatically?

She had talked to her mother, but no one knew that. She had talked to Jason, but he was too dense to realize it was his long lost best friend. He probably still believed her to be this mysterious girl, Krosa who moved to Antarctica. _Antarctica_. If he had any true knowledge, he would realize that that would be a difficult place to inhabit for a long period of time.

The only one who had truly recognized her in her new appearance, however ironic it would seem, was Skull. Then again, he was a person full of surprises, so he had proved numerous times in high school.

All these unanswered questions left her with two feelings: sadness that she was officially no longer a part of the people she had cared so much about, and anger that they would think her so weak. She would have never given up on them; she would have never believed it to be true, not in these circumstances, not when she had witnessed and been a part of so many abductions in her short life.

They had never even found a body.

_Oh well._ She thought to herself with a shrug. _That just gives me more incentive to do what I have to do._

She fingered the thorns against the stem of the rose until one of them pricked through the skin. She gazed at the blood trickling from the sliver. Blood really was a fascinating sight. With no emotion on her face, she dropped the rose on the grass and turned her back on the symbol of her life before Divatox had ripped it from her grasp.

Kimberly Ann Hart  
Who Truly was the Heart of Us All  
1978-1998

_**Catch ya on the flip side**_

_**

* * *

Six years before…**_

_"This is Slim Fast, your awesome DJ, and I have some awesome news for all of California to hear! Astronema was just defeated by the Power Rangers! Earlier this morning, our foe was terrorizing the city, in want of the Power Rangers…who, by the way, revealed themselves and will be interviewed tomorrow morning on Sunny Mornings."_

He grinned as he listened to one of the most popular stations in Angel Grove, 102.4 the Blaze. He had fixed his Aquitar radio to intercept the frequencies from California in order to keep a more current update when the other rangers were unable to contact him.

Somehow, even with all the good news coming from the radio stations, something left Billy feeling slightly less complete. He frowned and placed his forehead between his fingers as he continued to concentrate on a formula for a new tracking system. Or at least, attempt to concentrate.

Then again, he knew it had to just be paranoia. Ever since Kimberly's disappearance, he had made it his mission and responsibility to find her and bring her back. Yet, no matter what he tried, he could not find her. For the first time in his life, he had not even come close to solving this equation. What were the reasons for her disappearance? If this was a kidnapping, this was no normal kidnapping. No one had been threatened…no ransom. Zilch.

If it was Kim's wish to withdraw from the public light, the situation would be easier to comprehend, but she had not informed him of any plan to do so, or any indication that she was feeling isolated. She had no reason to just…vanish into thin air.

The soft swoosh of the sliding door brought him out of his reverie, and he swiveled around to meet the intruder. Fai stood before the exhausted former blue ranger with a tense expression adorning his dark features. Immediately, the exhaustion fled the genius as he sprung out of the chair. "What is it, Fai?"

"I…have some news concerning your friend." He said quietly.

"Yes?" Billy urged for him to continue. He noticed that tension, able to split a concrete block in half, seemed to fill the room. His hands began to twitch as Fai hesitated, trying to find the right words. The silence made the normally tranquil Billy extremely anxious.

"Maybe, you should see this for yourself." Fai finally let out and turned on his heel. Billy grabbed his papers and followed the retreating ranger quickly, jogging a bit to catch up.

"What is the meaning of this? Why can you not just tell me?"

"It will be better if I am not the one to deliver this news."

Billy placed a hand on the young man's shoulder as they entered the command room. "Is she dead?"

Fai stopped and gazed at Billy's communicator that was hooked to a machine. Billy had programmed his communicator to sound off an alarm if something were to happen to Kimberly's. It was silent.

However, something was amiss in the room he had become so accustomed to. He had memorized every detail from major to minor; he had tried to convince himself that it was for precautions incase of any break in…but he knew that he was only being his "anal self" as Kimberly would have called him back in the day.

Every communicator had a gem in the middle that was essentially the power source, but the gem was only a part of a larger crystal that Billy had been able to break in half for each bracelet. He had placed all the different colored gems in a circular frame each fitting into a separate pocket, and after Kimberly's disappearance he moved the frame to a pedestal in the middle of the command center.

However, there was a slight set back. Even if he were notified that something had happened to Kimberly, he still would not be able to locate her. This was why Billy had dedicated all his spare time to working on the tracking system.

He focused his attention on the frame in the middle of the room and almost dropped the _very _organized papers he had been clutching.

The light from the pink crystal was gone.

He immediately ran to the pedestal and touched the crystal. What should be warm and glowing was now just a plain lifeless rock. Even the once vibrant pink was dulled with grayish tint.

The little hope he had crumbled when his communicator sounded off the unwanted alarm. The room filled with a bright blue light, which he figured was from his gem, but he could not tear his eyes away from the pink crystal in his callused hands. He did not want to cry in front of Fai, but all pride fled as the first tears began to fall from his tired blue eyes.

_My poor Kimberly_. He thought to himself as the tears accelerated. The sound of a throat clearing startled him out of his trance, and he quickly wiped the tears from his cheeks.

"I have to…" Billy began but failed to finish. Fai nodded and exited the room to give him privacy. The blonde intellect remained where he stood, frozen before the pedestal. His body seemed to have a mind of its own. The arm that continued to wipe away the tears as they fell was the only part of his body that he could control.

He needed to contact the others. He needed Kat. She was the only one who had been able to drop everything to help him, for at least one day. A fresh set of tears began falling as he remembered her report to him.

* * *

"Billy, it's me, Kat. It's a no go. She's not here." The thick Australian accent rang through his bracelet. Immediately, Billy's heart collapsed in his rib cage. It took him a moment to respond. He feared his voice would crack with emotion.

"…Thanks anyway, Kat." Was all that came out. He winced at his hoarseness, and immediately grabbed the bottle of water next to his bed.

"Billy…do you want me to teleport there?" She asked softly.

"No…it's all right." He occupied his fingers by twisting the cap of the bottle back and forth.

"Billy." She stated shortly. "I know from experience that people should not be alone during these times."

"What times, Kat?" Billy snapped. "She has to be _somewhere_."

"That's it. I'm coming." Kat replied. "Teleport me. Now."

Billy sighed in defeat and slowly made his way to the command room. He really didn't think this was necessary. Any other time he would have loved for Kat to pay him a special visit, but right now he just wanted to be alone to think everything through. He supposed it could be that he was in shock, but he couldn't help that he had strong faith in his small brunette friend.

He pressed the buttons that would teleport Kat, sighing as they located her and teleported her. Why hadn't that worked on Kimberly? What force was keeping him from finding her? Who could be that cruel?

He laughed to himself instantly on that one. He could name a few monsters that would gladly torture him, let alone any other person with emotions.

"Billy…" He jumped as Kat spoke to him. He really needed to get his nerves checked out. Either that or sleep more.

Billy turned around, and upon seeing her, some of his burden seemed to be lifted. "Hey, Kat."

She smiled a sad smile and opened her arms. Instinctively, he stepped into them and wrapped his own around her waste. His body relaxed as she said the words, "It will all be okay."

* * *

He really needed to hear those words now, needed to be in her arms at that moment.

After realizing he had full control over his body, he grabbed his communicator and fastened the snap. His wrist found its way to his mouth in a familiar fashion, but before he could say anything, he heard a very familiar voice ring through.

"Billy, it's Jason. What the _hell_ was that?"

Billy jumped slightly, startled. He shook his head and wondered why he was so easily startled lately. He had made sure that he got the proper measure of sleep each night.

"What was what, Jase?" He asked, fatigued from the tears.

"That bright red light. Was this some side effect of the communicators? Is it, like, a three year warranty? Do we need to have it renewed?"

"Woah, slow down." Billy insisted. "No, the communicator is in perfect condition. Mine did the same, only blue."

"So what's the deal?" His friend had never been this impatient before; Billy wondered where he had been when his communicator had gone off.

"Well, I have a theory that it was the gem that caused the lights to flash. I also have a guess that I will be getting a few more calls from other rangers in the near future." Billy sighed again. Sighing seemed to have become a natural part of his speech lately. "All the gems are interconnected; I believe this is because each of the crystals used were originally fused together…before I found it, that is. The glowing, I believe, was caused because one of the gems was either completely destroyed or dislodged from the communicator."

"Kimberly?" Jason asked softly, his voice in a higher register than before.

"Possibly." Billy's eyes dropped. He was still clutching the pink crystal in his fist. "Yes. I am one hundred percent sure that Kimberly's communicator has been destroyed."

"How do you know it's Kimberly's communicator?" Jason demanded. "What do you know, Billy?"

His eyes filled with tears. "I…I can't tell you like this. We have to arrange an emergency ranger meeting. Jason, can you contact Tommy, Trini, Zack, and Aisha? I'll get everyone else."

There was a long pause, but finally he heard the common crackling sound. "Yeah, all right. When and where?"

Billy looked at one of the clock on the wall that stated Earth time in Angel Grove. "Tell them that I will teleport them all to the Youth Center at 10:30 pm Angel Grove time tonight. I need to get a hold of Kat, Jase. I'll talk to you later."

Billy wasted no time for a reply before he continued to the dancer, "Hey, Kat…"

He stopped there, in case she was somewhere very public. She usually took her communicator off during any of her dances. There would be no way she could immediately take off in the middle of a performance.

Thankfully, her reply came quickly. "Yes, Billy?"

"We're all going to meet tonight at 10:30 at the Youth Center. Don't worry about your location. I'll teleport you."

"Billy, is this about the pink light?" She asked. "I hope this has nothing to do with Kimberly."

"I wish it weren't." Billy revealed to himself. "I really do."

He brought his lips to the bracelet to reply to her comment. "I can't tell you why yet. Not like this."

"Billy, I wish I could talk more, but I am in the bathroom. The light went off during a practice meeting, and I had to run out of the theatre quickly to figure out what was happening. I really need to get back." She said gently. "I'm really sorry, but we'll talk tonight right?"

Billy nodded, then flushed when he remembered she could not see him. "That's all right, Kat. I love you."

"Love you too."

He hated that he was the barer of bad news, and that there was no other reason why he was calling this ranger reunion. It seemed that the only times they ever all got together was when something horrible had occurred. Well, almost all of them. But the one missing was the subject of this meeting now.

He wouldn't even be able to strategically plan this. He couldn't invent a machine that would bring her back to life. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, the logistics in his mind kicked in. This was his limit. These feelings and thoughts reminded him of the Island of Illusions. He had thought he had failed then because he could not explain why everything was happening, and why he could solve the problem as to why they were fading into nonentity.

This was going to be the hardest night of his life- explaining to each his best friends that their heart had stopped beating. The crane had flown to the heavens.

God, he could think of so many cheesy aphorisms, but he couldn't find the appropriate words. Nothing could justify why Kimberly, so young and thriving, was the first to die out of all of them.

This was no illusion now. No words of confidence could make her live again.

* * *

_**2004 ...present**_

"Power down." Conner crossed his arms in front and brought them down as the others followed his lead.

"Why would Zeltrax and Elsa just leave like that?" Tommy questioned. "Hey, guys, I'm going to check something out at the base. Maybe Mesogog is up to something."

The three teens nodded and watched as their mentor walked away from the battle scene. Kira continued to stare until a blue flash caught her eye. She turned towards the blue light and squinted. There seemed to be somebody inside of the mist.

"Who is that?" Kira wondered incredulously.

The three male rangers turned around and found themselves gazing at a woman striding towards them, but the fact that she was coming towards them did not have their full attention. She wore a corset material, silver halter with black leather rimmed around the edges. The top seemed to only have enough material to cover her breasts considering her torso was completely naked until her low-rise black plants began. As she got closer, her top revealed to be made up of white sparkling jewels.

"I don't know, but she is hott!" Conner blurted out staring at the overexposed stomach, a little dazed. Kira smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!"

"For once, I agree with Conner." Ethan concurred. The trio looked at Trent who shrugged.

"She's only wearing a bra!" Kira blurted out. She stared incredulously at the three guys who were paying no attention to her. "Ugh, guys are such _pigs_!"

"Do you think we should be worried?" Ethan added after a moments thought. The woman was still walking towards them, the reason being, the rangers did not know.

"I dunno." Kira and Trent automatically found their arms in front of them in a defensive stance.

"So you're the new rangers." The woman stopped and crossed her arms in a haughty attitude. She scanned the four of them.

"How do you know that?" Kira demanded since the boys seemed to be somewhere else at the moment. The woman focused on her, giving Kira chills down her spine. Who was this woman?

"I know all." The woman stated shortly, rolling her eyes. "As corny as that may seem… And the fact that you powered down in broad daylight helped."

The teenagers reddened with embarrassment, each making mental notes to be more careful from then on. "What do you want?" Conner finally spoke.

"I am here on business. I heard an old friend of mine is in Reefside. Nothing that concerns you…yet. The fact that I ran into you is just…mere coincidence and a great pleasure to see who I will be destroying later when I am done with _them_." Red flashed in the woman's eyes as she emphasized the last word.

_Them_? Kira asked herself. "Who are "them"?"

"That's none of your concern." She paused and peered at them again. "Only four…where is the fifth? There is another. Black."

Kira brought her chin up and was about to reply when Trent beat her to it, "That's none of your concern either, _ma'am_."

The woman laughed. "I like you. You'll be fun to mêlée, mon cherie. Oh, and call me Krosa: ma'am makes me sound so ancient."

The woman turned on her combat boot heel and strutted away until she disappeared in the blue mist she had appeared in.

"I knew it was too good to be true." Ethan's shoulders drooped.

"Ah man. She just _had _to be evil." Conner added. Kira shot them both a look and stalked off quickly to the ranger's base. She had to tell their teacher about this newcomer as soon as possible.

"Kira, are you forgetting that you have a gig in about…" Ethan checked his watch. "Twenty minutes."

Kira's eyes widened and all thoughts of the strange woman fled from her mind. "Shoot! The band is gonna kill me!"

* * *

_I should let it go  
I'm not supposed to feel this way  
Somehow, it seems impossible  
to continue the play _

I cant continue acting,  
to let these feelings grow  
Let it out  
Don't bottle this up, I know

_Slowly dying  
Its killing me inside  
I am trying  
Still, I hide _

I know what I must do  
I'm telling you the truth  
Soon, I'm going to scream.

_I feel, like crying  
to let the flood of emotions escape  
I'm slowly dyin  
it's killing me inside  
I'm still trying  
I will no longer hide._

Kira strummed the last chord on her acoustic and opened her eyes to her audience. She grinned as they applauded, and her friends in the back made cat calls. The blonde tucked a strand of wavy hair behind her ear and set her guitar on the stand.

Conner, Ethan, and Dr. Oliver each approached her as she hopped off the stage.

"That is an amazing song!" Conner planted a friendly kiss on her cheek. She stepped back from the gesture sheepishly.

"Thanks, but you've heard I before!" Kira protested, laughing at the airhead.

"I know that, but every time you play it, I love it even more." He told her and glanced at Ethan who nodded in affirmation.

"When you become a famous rock star, will you get me a hott rocker lady friend?" Ethan joked throwing an arm over her shoulder and squeezing her tight.

"You did great, Kira." Their teacher complimented, pulling her away from the blue ranger and into a hug.

"Gosh, what's with all the compliments?" Kira blushed; then thoughts of the mysterious woman came to mind. "Oh, hey, Dr. O, we have something to tell you."

"Aw, how cute." Inserted a sarcastic voice from behind them. The four froze and turned towards the position of the voice's owner. Much to their delight, they saw the striking dark haired woman from before. She continued on before anyone could reply, "I knew you were into musicians and blondes, but, honestly, the young ones?"

Kira and her teacher jumped apart instantly. "What, oh, ew!"

The black ranger threw her an offended look. She blushed again. "Sorry, you're just…you, Dr. O." She shuddered at the thought of anything more than platonic between them.

"Who are you?" He asked, stepping in front of the teenagers subconsciously.

She took a step forward so their noses were almost touching. "It doesn't matter who I am; just what I'm going to do to you."

"And what might the reason for this be?" He questioned boldly.

With a dismissive wave and a push to the side, she said, "That's not really what I'm here for. I just wanted a smoothie."

"You won't be getting one if you're going to be rude to fellow customers." Hailey suddenly appeared to their aid and glared.

"Who are you?" The woman scowled with displeasure. She rested a hand on her spandex-clad hip.

"I happen to be the owner of Cyberspace, and we do have certain dress codes. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Hailey crossed her arms in a defensive stance.

Then Trent's voice rang out through their bracelets. "You guys, I am in serious trouble!"

Conner and Ethan, who were behind their science teacher and Kira, decided they were hidden enough to reply. "We're on our way."

Conner placed a hand on Dr. Oliver's shoulder. "Hey, I really need those notes from today's class now."

Their teacher nodded in understanding; he'd have to take care of this strange woman's issue later. With one last glance at the petite brunette's face, he followed his fellow teammates out the door.

* * *

"That, was by far, one of the hardest monsters ever." The yellow ranger panted. The red ranger agreed by placing his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"You've got that right, Kira." The blue ranger confirmed.

"Dr. O, you never talk about your past experiences. What was your worst monster ever?" Conner asked standing up straight.

The black ranger hung his head. "Well…that's really difficult to say off the top of my head. I've been doing this for so long…I'll think about it."

"Hey, Dr. Oliver, it's not over yet." The white ranger pointed as more Tyranodrones appeared from a green vortex.

Each of the rangers groaned as Elsa and Zeltrax advanced quickly. Then, they seemed to be pulled backwards and thrown into the air. By the look on their faces and the screams escaping their lips, this was not planned.

"What lame excuses for evil villains don't you think?" A familiar voice came from beside them suddenly. The rangers jumped into their fighting standpoints. "_That_ is why I never bothered with sidekicks. If you want to get something done, the best way is to do it yourself."

She paused and slowly tore her attention away from the airborne duo to her new rivals.

"Dr. O, what should we do?" Blue ranger asked attentively.

"Ethan, shush!" Yellow ranger slapped at him promptly.

"Tommy? _You're _the new black ranger?" Her eye's widened in dismay. "_You_?"

"How did you know…?" He stiffened.

"Aw, I'm hurt. I'm surprised you don't recognize me." The woman glared. "It's weird. How no one recognized us, even though we never bothered to make up secret names. We always wear the same color. We always have that stupid bracelet on our wrists. I noticed the last two in Cyberspace: predominately black clothing and a bracelet with a large black gem that your students just so happened to be wearing. Did you think I didn't notice a strange voice coming out of thin air, calling for reinforcements? I can't believe you're back in the suit." She paced and continued her notion, throwing him a side-glance, "You know, a few years ago, I would have fainted at the sight of seeing you as a new ranger… In fact, I'm pretty sure I did."

The younger rangers looked up at him confused. Tommy shook his head. He wasn't quite sure of what was going on himself.

She stopped pacing and faced him. "I knew you weren't very smart, but I never thought you'd be so dense, my white tiger in shining armor."

There was only one person who would ever be allowed to call him that.

"_Kimberly_?" Tommy lurched forward, but was held back by his students. He powered down; the action then followed by his students.

"Correct! You win a brand new car!" She mocked a game show host. She looked around. "Where's the Kitty Kat, dear Tommy? I thought you would be _shackin'_ it up with her by now?"

"Leave her out of this, Kim." Tommy lowered at his warning.

"What, have you failed to get into her pants? I'm surprised, Tommy. Then again, you never really did it for me either." Kimberly smirked at his shocked features. "Oh relax. I don't want anything to do with her. I always did like her. Wonder why she gave up the power."

"The need for saving you, a friend, was much greater than having power. Don't you remember that?" Tommy inquired. Hope filled his eyes when she bit her lip.

"Hmm…" She looked down at her boots. When she looked up, she had a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Personally, I think that was her biggest mistake. Oh well, no one's perfect. Ops, it's getting a bit late for your youngins, don't you think? I best be on my way."

Tommy reached for her arm, but the blue mist swallowed her before he could clasp her. This was all too weird- too fast. Kimberly was back, but she was evil. He had to get to the bottom of this. What happened to her? Was it an evil spell?

He shook his head and began walking to his jeep. He felt a tug on the sleeve of his arm and stopped.

"Wait, Dr. O, you know her?" Conner questioned, puzzled.

Tommy held his hand up to silence the current red ranger. He didn't think he could answer any questions at the moment. "I'm going to go. I have some things to research."

He left the four confused teenagers standing in the streets and found his way to his jeep. After buckling his seatbelt he leaned back against the seat and breathed in a deep breath to clear his head, maybe let some thoughts escape. Unfortunately, the only thing that wanted to escape were tears that he had been holding in for so long.

He had thought she was dead. Now he knew she was alive; but then again, the Kimberly he knew wasn't. He rested his forehead on the steering wheel as he started the car and slightly relaxed as the rumbling sound surrounded him.

* * *

If the format is screwed up, it's not my fault! I have been trying to upload this chapter for three days...spent about half an hour yesterday trying to reformat every time I uploaded, but it wouldn't work.

I'm super sorry, but I cannot write personals right now! I have absolutely no time, but I _really_ wanted to get this up this week! Hope you like it!

Thank you for the reviews, please leave more!


	12. Zombie

**Another head hangs low  
****The child is slowly taken  
****And their violence caused such silence  
****Who are we mistaken  
****But you see its not me it's my family  
****In your head, in your head  
****They're fighting…  
****In your head, in your head they're crying  
****In your head, in your head…  
****What's in your head, in your head, Zombie?**

_**Cranberries**_

* * *

_The kid lay motionless, unaware of the events before this day. He had no knowledge of why he was lying in the bed covered in starch white sheets. He would never understand. His brain no longer had the capability to understand such considerations. _

_The little girl in the bed beside his would never walk again._

_**She** leaned against the doorframe keeping her best poker face on. A nurse had let her see the children since she had recognized her from the Pan Globals._

_What father could do this to a child? What mother could stand by and watch?_

_The world is corrupt._

* * *

"We have a test tomorrow. It's hard one, so I suggest you study for it." Tommy said while straightening papers on his pedestal. A small smile played on his lips as he heard the class groan in frustration, the loudest being Conner.

The bell rang dismissing the students, but four stayed behind. "Dr. O, you…why must you do this to us?" Conner complained.

Ethan yawned. "If you would just pay attention, then you wouldn't be-"

Kira smacked Ethan in the back of the head. "Not everyone can retain as much information as you can."

Conner nodded but was unsure of whether she had just insulted him or not. Trent stood behind them, but was gazing at something outside of the window. His brow was narrowed in thought. Tommy noticed this and called him on it. "What's the matter, Trent?"

"I saw something." Trent shook his head. "Whatever it was, it's not there anymore."

"We better check it out…just in case." Kira persisted.

They filed out of the classroom and headed towards the front doors, but were stopped by an aggressive cough. Slowly, they each turned around to find their malicious principal.

"And where do you think you five are going?" She tipped her glasses as she eyed them.

"These four have been doing an extra credit assignment to raise their grades since they've been sick so much. They wanted to show me a piece of the project, but they couldn't carry it inside. I was going out there to see if it was correct." Tommy replied quickly.

"Very well…I have an appointment I have to attend to. Make it short, Dr. Oliver." She sneered and briskly turned on her heel.

"A meeting? With who?" Kira questioned, her brow knitting. "Randall never makes time for meetings with anyone. Trust me, I've tried."

"Why would you want to spend extra time with that witch?" Conner asked incredulously.

"Last year I was going to see if I could graduate early, so I could get a head start on my band…but obviously I couldn't seeing as how I could never get an appointment to talk to her." Kira crossed her arms in frustration.

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't…otherwise you wouldn't be here!" Conner grinned as Kira rolled her eyes.

"That's not the point I was trying to make."

"Anyway…let's go check the parking lot." Ethan reminded them.

"Lemme guess that this has to do with this mysterious woman." Conner added as they reached the parking lot. They looked up at their teacher who remained silent with a stern look on his face. He seemed to be contemplating something.

"There's nothing here." Kira stated, slightly puzzled.

"I told you it was gone." Trent affirmed. "There was a large shadow for a moment, and the wind picked up. But it was gone after a few seconds."

"You rangers are so predictable!" A gruff voice came from behind them.

The five groaned and turned to their right. Tommy spat out, "Nice to see you again, Zeltrax."

Zeltrax leapt at him in anger. Tommy dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way. Zeltrax was unable to retreat from his attack and landed in a belly flop on the concrete. He quickly recovered as he heard the rangers call upon their powers in the background. He jumped up and rushed at the black ranger again.

The other rangers were tiring of his obsession with their teacher. He really needed to forgive and forget.

The four rushed at the half robot half human from behind as he focused all his attention on Tommy. He yelped as Conner raked his sword across his back.

"Zeltrax, _what _are you doing?" A deep feminine voice came from nowhere. "Mesogog did _not_ order an attack."

All disputes stopped as the short-haired woman appeared before them.

"Elsa." The hybrid seethed. "What are you doing here?"

"Mesogog will not be pleased with your disobedience." She stated firmly as the rangers looked at the duo in bewilderment.

"This has nothing to do with Mesogog. He promised me that I would be the cause of the black ranger's destruction."

"Not if I have anything to do with it." Another voice called out. The rangers' shoulders sagged a bit. Not another one.

"_You_. What are _you_ doing here?" Elsa fumed. "You've caused enough trouble."

"But you see, I can't have this pathetic excuse for a villain kill _my_ target." She smirked. "If anyone is going to kill the black ranger, it will be my pleasure."

"Over my dead body!" Zeltrax shouted, enraged at the intrusion.

"That…could be arranged." Kimberly derided. "Easily."

The rangers each watched, amazed, as Zeltrax commenced a battle with her. She had no trouble blocking his quick attacks, adding a few punches here and there.

Kira was partly amazed and partly disgusted that she could fight in so little clothing. Her skirt, long and flowy scraps of material held together by a wide leather belt, whipped around as she maneuvered. Her top also consisted of two brown leather pieces held together by straps.

_At least she changes her clothes...unlike most enemies._

She wrinkled her nose in distaste when she saw the boys gazing at her with their mouths slightly open.

She strained her ears to hear her taunt him. "Aw you're quick," She paused and dodged a kick, "but I'm much quicker." She bent down and kicked his feet out from underneath him.

Zeltrax pulled her arm, forcing her to fall with him. She grunted as her hand scraped against scattered rocks. Zeltrax had regained his composure and muttered, "I'll show you quick!"

Thinking quickly, Kimberly murmured a defense chant she had memorized from the Book. "Kélé, filla, saba, nani, norou!"

Sapphire light exploded from her hands, throwing Zeltrax in the air. His back collided with the concrete, and before he could recuperate, she had pulled her samurai sword out and had it pinned against his throat.

"Don't," She spat, "Make me do this."

"Weakling." He mumbled. Her brown eyes darkened. The sword pressed deeper into his throat.

"I have no problem killing you." She growled. Zeltrax sputtered as his air pipe began collapsing from the pressure of her blade.

"Then why don't you?" He snarled.

"Unlike you, I know something of honor, hybrid. This is not my fight." She pulled her blade off his throat, and he gasped for air. "_He_ is not yours to destroy. He is _mine._ If you touch him, I will kill you."

Zeltrax glared at her and prepared to attack, but was held back by Elsa. "Mesogog wants to see you."

"This will not be the last, girl!" He shouted as the two disappeared in the green vortex.

Tommy rushed to her side as she continued to stare in the direction where Zeltrax had just exited. Her stare was cold with irritation. She had just saved his life. Maybe she wasn't really evil; he hoped this was just a façade.

He reached for her arm, but she shrugged him away. His face fell as her sword pressed against his chest. "Do not touch me."

He backed away, but she still wouldn't look at him. It was as if she expected Zeltrax to return that very second and attack her from behind if she turned away.

"Kim! It's _me_, Tommy! Please, Kim! Don't do this. I know you don't want to! You're not evil!" Tommy cried desperately. Kimberly turned her head and fixed her gaze straight into his eyes. He shuddered at the malice in her eyes. She closed the distance between them.

"It didn't work last time, Tommy. What made you think it'd work now?" Kimberly scoffed haughtily.

"We can save you!" Tommy was not willing to give up. He knew the real Kim was in there somewhere.

Her eyes darkened at his words. "What makes you think I need saving?"

"Wha?" His eyes were filled with question.

"I can take care of myself. You seem to be the only person who refuses to see that." She turned on her heels, her serrated skirt catching his legs, and stalked off, fading into the air as she did so.

* * *

He dropped his briefcase on the floor as he shut the door to his home. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head as he headed to the kitchen to fix himself an afternoon snack. However, he immediately froze when he saw a figure sitting at the island in his kitchen. His jaw dropped slightly as he realized that it was none other than Kimberly, swinging her leg back and forth against the tall chair and reading something.

She wasn't dressed in any type of battle uniform, like the passed two she had been wearing. Instead, she wore a pair of jean shorts, her black combat boots, and a light green short-sleeved shirt. Even after all the current events, he was still surprised to see her in anything but pink.  
_  
Wait a minute… Isn't that one of my private files that I keep stored downstairs?_ He snatched it from her hands with speed that rivaled his turbo days. Instead of defending herself, all she did was raise an eyebrow at him nonchalantly.

"How did you get in here?" He demanded looking at the files she had been examining earlier. It was the file that he had kept about his Mighty Morphin era. He blushed slightly since this was also the time that he had been dating Kimberly and had some of the letters and notes she had written him in high school stashed somewhere in there. When she had "died" her father had found a box of the letters he had sent her in her bedroom closet and had returned them to him at the funeral.

She shrugged and stood up. "It's easy to break into places when you can teleport."

"Is that how you got into my basement?" As a side thought he added, "I thought we had security against that."

He peered down at her. She had always been short, but it still surprised him to see that she barely reached his shoulders.

"You do. You forget that I somehow always stumble across things by accident. Old habits are hard to break." She reminisced. She looked him in the eye. "Don't worry, I didn't do anything to your precious command center. I'm not here to destroy everything you've worked so hard to create, especially when you aren't there to watch. That's not a fair fight, and not nearly as fun."

His forehead creased as he pondered her intentions. "What _are_ you doing here?"

"My own business, a little hobby of mine. You would be the only one who would know the answers, in close contact." She waved her hand dismissively and walked closer to him. Defensively, he took a step backwards. Her shoulders dropped slightly. "Relax, I'm not in the mood to fight."

"You are so confusing." Tommy shook his head, stunned at her relaxed and unthreatening behavior. "I don't know whether you're truly evil or not."

She ignored his last comment and continued. "Now, will you answer my questions?"

He frowned. "I don't even know what this is about."

"You'll find that out." She rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

When his frown deepened and she could see that he was getting slightly agitated with her avoiding his questions, her shoulders dropped even more in slight defeat. She grabbed for his hand but didn't flinch when he pulled it away.

"You're messing with my mind." He accused and increased the distance between them. She frowned as he continued to back away.

"No, I'm not. I just want to solve a mystery involving one of us." She replied exasperated. He instinctively peered into her eyes as if to detect any lies in the deep brown pools. Instead of finding deceit, however, he saw the innocence and vulnerability of _his_ Kimberly, not some evil sorceress who had a hidden agenda.

"Fine. What do you want?" He caved, exhaustion creeping over his face.

A smile appeared on her face. "I think we should do this in a more resourceful place."

He sighed. "Why?"

"Because some of these questions you may not know right off the top of your head. I looked in some of those files in your basement, but couldn't find what I wanted. And _that_ file I didn't get to finish looking through because of _someone_." She folded her arms and stared at the manila folder in his hands.

"Fine, well, since you already know where the supposed to be secret base is, and that is a very resourceful place, we'll go there." He relented and headed towards his office. He hoped internally that he wasn't making a big mistake, but for some odd reason, he trusted her to stay true to her word.

He sighed again as he opened the door to the ranger base and descended down the stairs. He could hear Kimberly's footsteps behind him. When they reached the opening of the room, he turned around to face her. She was looking at her boots and continued walking until she ran into him. Immediately the two hopped away from each other. She stared at him in silence, obviously contemplating a topic running through her mind.

Finally, she broke the silence.

"So what was it like being a ranger again?" Her eyes left his to look down at her hands. When she looked up at him, his eyes widened a bit.

She grabbed a chair and plopped on it, straddling the back. Tommy noticed that she was even acting like her old self as she waited for him to answer. Her intense gaze forced him to answer. "It's the same as ever."

She rolled her eyes. "No, I mean…how does it feel to be back in the suit after being gone so long?"

The black ranger shrugged, but spoke when she grunted. "All right, it is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I confess." He ended with a small smile. She grinned back at him.

"I knew it. I always speculated as to what it'd be like to become a ranger again. It seems like just yesterday." She looked up at the ceiling, in deep thought about past ranger days.

Tommy was entirely perplexed at her behavior. Before she had seemed worse than Zedd and Mesogog put together, but now…she seemed perfectly normal.

Suddenly, she stood up and scowled. He guessed she had realized how she was acting. "Oh well. It's irrelevant now. That ranger business was nonsense anyway."

Tommy's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"We were fighting for nothing." Kimberly leered. "We were protecting a race that doesn't deserve to live. They are nothing but arrogant, selfish, and stupid bastards." She began pacing in front of him. "Not only that, I thought Power Rangers were supposed to be _noble_. I'll have you know that the people "chosen" to be rangers are nowhere near noble. Oh no, most would kill before they found out the truth about people, what their history is.

"Now wait-"

Kimberly held her hand up to silence him. "You cannot convince me otherwise. I have been observing this earth for six years; I know what I am talking about."

"Kim, why did you come to Reefside?" Tommy finally asked the question he had been asking himself since she arrived.

"To find you." She stated as if it were the most blatant thing in the world.

"I know that, but why to find me? Is there even a reason _why_ you want to destroy me?" He prodded.

"Of course there is." She snapped. "Did you ever stop to think _why_ I disappeared all those years ago?"

"Yes! No one could figure it out." Tommy began, but she interrupted him.

"I was kidnapped…" She paused and spat out, "Again." She threw him a look of disgust, not meant _for_ him, but for disappointment in herself. "By Divatox. She wanted me to overthrow Astronema, so she could be Queen of Evil. Didn't work out quite as she planned though." A small laugh erupted from the petite woman's lips.

"But that's not the point. I spent a full year waiting, and hoping, that you and the others would find me. Instead, I saw through a viewing screen that my disappearance meant nothing to any of you. It didn't affect you to the slightest. You, on a lovely date with Katherine, and the others continuing their daily lives as well.

"I needed you, you weren't there, and it was because you didn't care- you and everyone else who claimed to be my best friends and swore to help out whenever help was needed. You all were free to live a happy life and move on from our Power Ranger past, while I was stuck in hell for a year under Divatox's reign. For the next six years, I envied you, and, for that, I hate you.

"Why you first, you ask? Why, because if I were to rid the rangers of Tommy Oliver, "the greatest ranger of them all", the other rangers won't be nearly as strong in defense. They'll be too busy mourning you and find themselves inefficient. You, after all, are the leader, mind, and heart of the team."

"No, Kim, that was you." Tommy broke in hoarsely. "You were the heart."

She smiled, but the radiance that customarily shone along was gone. "Maybe I was, at one time, but you did fine without me. You had your Kitty Kat to keep the team together when I left. Without you, the team could hardly stay together. Each time you left, Zordon somehow managed to weasel you back in because he knew it too." No longer looking at him, she glared at the floor. "I was there, on the ship, when Dark Specter announced that he had captured Zordon, you know."

Tommy's eyes widened. He wanted to ask why she didn't help him, but the words wouldn't come out. She beat him to the punch anyway. It was as if she was reading his mind. "I almost visited him once, but I was stopped by Astronema when Andros was trying to escape. I wanted to ask him why I had been chosen as a Power Ranger when all I could feel was hatred and bitterness. I wanted to yell at him and tell him that it was his fault I was even in the situation. If I had never become a Power Ranger in the first place, Divatox would never have kidnapped me." She seemed to have been taken over by a daze because her eyes were distant.

"After you kill all of us off, Kim, what will you do? Take over the world?" He was surprised to hear bitterness in his tone. Usually, he was great at masking emotions. Then again, this _was_ Kimberly, the one who could always get him to let everything out with just one look.

"Of course not. I don't want anything to do with this world other than to destroy you all."

He paused at her wording. "You all? _All_ the Power Rangers? What have you got against everyone else?"

"No, not the Power Rangers. Every living, breathing human. The very sight of humans makes me want to kill myself now, with all the observations I've made." She spat out venomously. "Again I say, humans do not deserve to live any longer. They've taken advantage of their precious lives for far too long."

Tommy opened his mouth to counter this, but she held her hand up again. "This is irritating me. Somehow you've managed to distract me, Mr. Oliver. Now, onto what I came here for." She breathed and continued, "I have been trying to locate everyone. So far, I know where everyone is except for one."

Tommy winced immediately once he realized where this was going, and it wasn't going to be pretty when she found out the truth.

"Where is Trini?" Kimberly questioned him.

Ordinarily, he would have kept his mouth shut about personal issues, but he figured he at least owed it to the real Kim whom he knew was still in there. "Trini's…gone."

"Gone?" He could tell she didn't fully comprehend what "gone" meant. His shoes seemed very interesting as of right now.

"She's…dead. Trini died." His heart dropped at the memory of hearing the news. After class one afternoon, he had gone home to find a message on his answering machine from Jason saying it was urgent. Tommy instantaneously knew something was wrong, but he had just guessed that another monster was in town. Not something as tragic as one his best friends from high school dying. He had been even more devastated when Jason had told him that no one could get a hold of Kimberly. No one had heard anything from Kimberly for months. Now he knew why. He tore his eyes away from his shoes and forced himself to look at his former love.

Her eyes seemed distant, as if she was in deep thought. "Dead?"

Tommy felt his heart drop at the sound of vulnerability in her voice. He didn't care that she was evil, he still wanted to comfort her- white knight syndrome as Jason called it.

"How?" She asked quietly. She wanted to sit down, but her feet refused to move.

"Three years ago, she was in a car wreck while driving to her home. She had come back to California to surprise us all with her news that she had just been hired as a UN Ambassador. A drunk driver crashed into her." He replied dully.

"An accident?" She muttered. Bitterness was beginning to form in her tone. "After everything we went through- after all those battles- she was killed in a _car accident_?"

The wall was building back. Tommy knew he had penetrated a hole in her guard, but he could see it repairing quickly. "Kim, it's all right! She's in a better place."

Her head snapped in his direction. "I don't care. She was only human. She doesn't matter to me. _No one_ does." She declared voice low and a fierce look in her eyes.

His heart fell. "Kim, she was happy! She told Jason in the hospital that she was ready to go, that it was her time." He had never understood how Trini could be so calm in the direst situations. She had explained to Jason that everything happens for a reason. Now he questioned her philosophy. What was the reason for Kimberly crossing to the dark side?

"What do I care whether she was happy or not, Oliver?" He grimaced at the use of his last name. The barrier was up again. She turned away from him, and made a move towards the stairs. Before she ascended the stairs, she called over her shoulder, "A drunk driver is another example of the destruction humans cause. Trini was probably the closest to perfection that any human could ever get to."

Tommy's head hung low as she continued up the stairs. How was he ever going to persuade her away from the dark side?

* * *

Kimberly stormed out of his house with haste. She hated him. His nobleness. His perfection. The attributes that she had admired about him before nauseated her to the core of her soul. Why had she been so civil before? She really had no idea.

Her thoughts had been more driven on finding her once best friend than act upon her distaste for the current black ranger.

Black Dino Ranger. A spiteful chuckle escaped her lips. _Of course_ he was a ranger. Thomas Oliver could _never_ live without knowing the world needed him. It was so…egotistical.

Couldn't he, just for once, do something for himself?

Her move to Florida had changed her life. Without the daily monster attacks and distractions of her loved ones she was finally able to think for herself. If she were going to move on and grow, she couldn't dwell on the past. There was just no point in it. She had her own goals, and they had their own busy lives.

Slowly, she began to cut off all contact with her past, but she still had one connection. Tommy. Tommy "The Love of Her Life" Oliver. Her heart broke a million times as she wrote that letter. She knew it was the worst possible way to break up with him.

_Yet another action in her life proving I am weak. _

Yet, she had gone through with it. She knew it was time. She had fallen out of love with Tommy long before she actually ended the relationship. She was just blind to the fact until that Christmas. The spark was gone. Even with the kisses and the mistletoe, nothing was the same. She tried with every ounce of her being to salvage the love that had been once before but failed.

She realized she could not be in the relationship any longer after she met Damon at a club on a night off. He was the first guy to catch her eye and hold it after Tommy had entered her life.

She had never cheated on Tommy, like her letter led to believe, and Damon had not been "the one she belonged with". However, he had, in a sense, awakened her of her true feelings, and that she'd credit him for.

And of course Tommy made no effort to contact her after he received the letter. He wished her happiness. She pressed her fingers to her temple trying to push away the headache.

Her eyes caught site of a yellow rose as she passed the park. Immediately, her hand fell to her side. Trini.

She had lied when she said that Trini did not matter. Trini was probably the only person who truly understood her with no words uttered. A drunk driver was the cause of her death. He or she had murdered her best friend.

Drunk drivers and crashes were not foreign issues to her. She had read many times in the newspaper, even seen one in person, that people were being killed by DUIs.

_Humans and their stupidity._

And she couldn't be there to help her, possibly even save her from the terrible fate. Maybe if she hadn't been kidnapped, Trini would have been with her gloating about the wonderful new job.

_This wouldn't have happened if my friends had cared about me enough to find me._ A voice from deep inside of her insisted. _She would be right here next to me. I would have my life. I would be happy.

* * *

_

"Dr. O, you never answered me before. You know who this psycho woman is?" Conner repeated his comment from earlier.

"Yes." Tommy acquiesced. "That is, I _knew_ her."

"How?" Ethan quizzed, the three younger male rangers exchanged glances.

"We go way back." Their teacher began, but was cut short by their only female ranger.

"I know…" Kira stepped forward. "She was in your diary. The original pink ranger!"

"That's right." Tommy affirmed; he began typing at his computer.

"_She_ was a Power Ranger? But she's evil!" Conner exclaimed.

"_I_ was evil, and _I'm_ a Power Ranger." Trent added. Conner reddened at his blonde moment.

"True."

"And I was evil at the beginning of my ranger career." Tommy stated.

"You were under a spell, right?" Ethan paused for his teacher's confirmation, and continued when he got a slight nod. "Well, maybe she is too."

"She doesn't seem to have any leader though. She never mentioned one at least." Kira verbalized.

Tommy bit his lip. "You're right. And she never made any reference to any past or present nemesis." He narrowed his eyes in thought. _Could that metal device be a brainwashing tool? _"She could be brainwashed and not know it."

"Isn't that what happened to Astronema?" Kira added and bit her lip when he responded with a nod.

"Um, Dr. O, I know she seems to only be after you, but what should we do if she were to attack?" Ethan questioned and quickly added as the others shot him critical looks. "I mean, it's not really _our_ fight."

"I understand what you're saying, Ethan. Let's say, if she attacks the city, which I doubt she will, then stop her." He hesitated on his next comment. "If I am beaten, stop her then as well."

"There is no way she could take you down, Dr. O." Conner said assuredly with a nod of his head. "Look at her size."

Kira huffed and folded her arms. "What's that supposed to mean?" Conner's cheeks flushed slightly at the confrontation and shrugged. Kira smacked him on the arm and shook her head.

"Do not underestimate her. Never do that. I know from experience." Tommy stated clearly.

"Dr. O," Ethan cut in softly, "You told us to stop her…but what happens if she can't be stopped?"

Tommy sucked in a quick breath. "I…" He had thought about not being able to stop her; he also knew the dangers. However, he was confident that his team could conquer over this evil "ranger" as other teams had done so in the past. They had always been able to restore the good in every ranger, but there was always that fraction that something serious could really occur, like death for instance. He hated to think that he could be sentencing Kimberly, someone he loved so deeply not only as a teammate and friend, but as a lover as well, to death. Although he felt nothing more than platonic feelings for her now, he had always been a firm believer that one could never completely fall out of love with someone. The love and bond that they had cherished would always be there, even if it were just focused on friendship now.

"Dr. Oliver?" Kira interrupted his thoughts.

Tommy's eyes snapped up and looked directly into her eyes. He did not want to make a choice for them that involved killing another human being, but it would have to be done if Kimberly refused to give in. "…Then see to it that you do everything possible to stop her. Even if it means…killing her."

* * *

Tommy entered the café, yawning from lack of sleep. He was having a hard time sleeping because of this Kimberly issue. He didn't understand why she blamed him and the others for what happened to her. There must be something she was hiding.

How had she gotten all those powers? Divatox must have given them to her, but he couldn't see why the lady pirate would give her an immeasurable amount of powers. Kira had told him that she had whispered some sort of spell when fighting Zeltrax. That was what caused Zeltrax to fly back.

Since Kira was pretty perceptive during battle, he had no choice to believe that Kimberly had become like another Rita, minus the taking over the world part.

That brought another question. Why did she want to take down the whole human race? What had pushed Kimberly over the edge? He knew she was sensitive person, who felt so much for so many people…could something have happened while she was kidnapped? Did Divatox lie to her? She had to have done so because they had been looking for her. Billy had even dropped everything to find her. That viewing screen she mentioned in his basement must have been lying, or videotaped from before they knew she was missing. He wasn't even dating Katherine when she had disappeared. He wasn't dating anyone at that time, come to think of it.

"You all right, Tommy?" His red haired friend greeted him. He nodded in response mostly because he thought his voice would betray him. She gave him a look that said she didn't believe him, but he was thankful she didn't call him on it.

"Would you like anything?" She changed the subject.

"Yeah, a Snickers sounds great." He smiled and sat down at the bar. The doors opened, and on instinct, his head jerked in that direction. When he saw that it was just Conner, he sighed. He hated being paranoid, but with a life as unpredictable as his…he couldn't help it.

"Hey, Dr. O. Guess who I ran into!" The red ranger said with a big grin.

Tommy frowned. It obviously wasn't a certain brunette that had plagued his mind recently. Before he could say anything, Conner was speaking again, "Blake Bradley, _the_ motocross breakthrough star of the year!"

Tommy's eyebrows narrowed. He knew that name from somewhere, but his overloaded and exhausted brain wouldn't let him remember. "Why is he in town?"

"I guess they're having a race here in town or something." Conner shrugged. "Hey, Hailey! Can I get a Pina Colada smoothie?"

"Sure thing, Conner." The genius that rivaled Billy handed Tommy his Snickers and went back to work.

"So, Dr. O, any more information on this lady friend?" Conner asked leaning closer as he whispered.

Tommy shook his head. "No, she hasn't made any appearances."

"She is a weird one. Definitely not normal." The soccer player smiled as Hailey handed him his smoothie. "Thanks!"

She grinned. "Anything new?"

The two rangers shook their heads. Hailey frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but she was called away by another customer. Conner refocused on what he was saying before. "Was she always like that?"

"Kimberly? She's always been a bit unpredictable, I guess, but not to me. We could read each other like a book."

"You guys were pretty close right? I mean, that's what I've been guessing from between your interaction with her." Conner asked seriously. Tommy was always being surprised at Conner's maturing behavior. He was becoming as insightful as some of his previous antecedents.

"Yeah, we were close." Tommy didn't feel like elaborating anymore of the story. It wasn't that he wasn't over his feelings for Kimberly…he just didn't want to end up having to explain every detail.

"Hey, Dr. O, Conner!" The two men jumped at the sound of Kira's voice. Conner knocked over his drink. They turned to face her. She burst out laughing as they tried to regain their composure. "A little high strung?"

"Don't _do_ that!" Conner complained while wiping the remains of his drink off his shirt. Kira stuck out her lower lip. "Aw, Conner, I'm sorry. Did I ruin your shirt?"

"Yes, as a matter-of-fact, you did!" Conner stuck his tongue out at his teammate. "Now I have to go change."

"Any updates?" Tommy asked Kira. She chuckled, watching Conner exit the café in a huff.

"No, nothing except this stupid test I'm helping Trent study for." She said holding up a large textbook.

The name Blake Bradley crossed his mind randomly. It bugged him that he couldn't remember where he had heard that name before. "Hey, sorry, Kira, but I need to go back the base. I'll see you later."

The blonde shrugged. "That's all right. Trent should be here any minute." She waved as he headed towards the exit and made her own way to the couch.

-

_Why didn't I bring my car?_ Tommy mentally slapped himself. Then he remembered loaning Hailey his jeep to haul a few boxes to the café. He didn't feel so stupid now. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat and continued on the long walk to his house.

The exercise would be good for him anyway. Sometimes he missed the Youth Center, with its gym and his friends spending all the time they had off there.

A strange feeling rushed through his body, forcing him to shiver. Immediately his mind went into overdrive. He knew better than to ignore those nagging feelings that something was off. He had done it too many times. "Fool me once…" fluttered through his mind.

"Thinking of me?" Her voice queried. He spun around to see her standing there, her hands also shoved into a black jacket that covered a mock kimono.

"Would it matter if I was?" He cautiously replied. What did she want this time?

She lifted on shoulder. "I guess it wouldn't."

"Why won't you leave me alone?" He blurted out. He hated that she could make his strength crumble.

"You already know the answer, so why do you ask?" She stepped closer. "I am tired of avoiding the inevitable, Tommy. Let's get this over with."

"Kim…" He started. She lunged at him unexpectedly. He was forced to push her backwards. Instead of falling, like she might have done way back when, she used the momentum he had created for her to back handspring. When she landed, she stepped to her left. He followed her lead and stepped to his left. Neither attacked as a full circle was made. Finally fed up, she waved for him to come nearer.

He looked down as he saw his feet walking against his will. This must be one of her powers. He watched her face as a grin appeared. "Where did you get your powers?"

"Jealous?" She smirked. She spun around and kicked him in the jaw sending him flying. "To be honest, I really don't know. I guess I had it in me the whole time?"

He rubbed his jaw as he stood up. "Did Divatox give them to you?"

"No, I think I've already covered this." She frowned. "Divatox is gone. Anything she was involved with would have disappeared as well, including powers." She reached him and threw a few punches. He would not attack her, refusing to take part in this. He knew that if he used full power or let any emotion take over, he would not be able to hold back. He did not want to be the cause of her death.

"Don't be stupid, Oliver. I know you're potential. You're holding back. I _won't _do the same for you." She sneered.

"I don't want to hurt you." Tommy spoke softly. He knew she was angry about Trini, and he just so happened to be the scapegoat.

Her features flushed with anger and her brows narrowed. "_Hurt_ me? You claim to know me, yet you have no idea about my life. What I've been doing since Muranthias."

"Please, Kim. Let us help you." Tommy pleaded once again. He wasn't quite ready to give up on her.

"You weren't there to help me before. I needed you then. I _don't _need you now." Kimberly's voice was low and hard. Her fists clenched and unclenched. Fury pursed through her body, and she was getting more and more agitated as they spoke.

"I didn't know that you needed my help! How could I, Kim?" He grunted, pushing her away. "I want to make it up to you! Let me help you!" Tears filled her former love's eyes. It broke his heart all over again to see Kimberly, so innocent and pure, acting this way. The girl who had helped him over come his grief of being the evil green ranger, the one who had accepted him without hesitation; she had brought him out of his shell.

"It's too late for that." She stated simply. "I was out there, waiting for help, but you did not recognize the signs. I am too far gone. You cannot save me."

Tommy refused to believe that. She took advantage of his contemplative moment and shoved his chest, sending him backwards. She rushed at him again, but this time he was ready for an attack. He sent her flying with a roundhouse kick. For a moment, he was relieved that he could take a breather, but that feeling flew out the door the moment he saw her land. She was too close to the edge of the cliff. She stood up cautiously, but her heal caught on a root. Her eyes widened as she fell backwards over the edge.

"Tommy, help me!" Kimberly cried, clinging to a few rocks.

Tommy's eyes brightened a bit. "Kim?"

Maybe he had gotten through to her! He rushed to the edge of the cliff and extended an arm down to her. She smiled up at him and grabbed his wrist. Immediately, the smile turned from innocent and thanksgiving to conniving. "Psyche!" Kimberly cackled. "Gotcha there, buddy!"

To his horror, she yanked on his arm, pulling him over the edge.

"Woooooaah!" Tommy wailed as he flew over the edge. Fortunately, his automatic reflexes were quick, and he grabbed a large tree branch that had grown out from the side of the cliff. He looked up to see Kimberly pulling herself over the edge. She had never needed his help.

"Dr. O!" He heard Kira's voice call from land.

"Are you all right?" Conner shouted.

"I'm just peachy." Tommy retorted.

"Not for long." A blast exploded above him and he heard the younger rangers howl in pain, then silence. They seemed to have lost consciousness. Tommy swung his legs around, trying to get momentum. Finally, he was able to swing himself around the branch and scrambled to his feet. Thankfully, the branch was wide and strong enough to hold him. Looking up, he saw Kimberly gazing down at him.

She pouted. "Aw, Tommy, you should have known better than that. It's going to take a lot more work to defeat me."

"I don't want to defeat you, Kim." He replied faintly.

"You're mistake." She frowned. She brought her hands together and formed a purple ball of energy. "Goodbye, Handsome." Kimberly shoved her arms forward firing the energy ball at the black ranger. It was a direct hit, knocking him off the branch. Gravity took its course and sent him to his rocky doom.

She watched as he plummeted to the river and his flailing arms. His scream grew faint as the distance between them grew. The sound completely stopped when the raging waters swallowed his black form.

* * *

Bwah haha! Bet you didn't expect _that!_ I had to cut _this_ chapter in half as well...so really this is a three part chapter. Kind of.

I don't really know how this will end. So far, I have about three different endings running through my head, and I have one ruled out that definitely will not be used. I don't know how to make this go out with a bang. Any suggestions that I can add to the list?

**IsabellaPaige**- I doubt he'll be able to make her change. She's pretty set on her ways, as of right now. :)

**Ghostwriter**- Good, Fanfic was really pissing me off. Of _course_ she's still evil. The guy was the cause of her best friends' death. That wasn't going to make her turn good. haha :) And Tommy likes challenges! But really, there is no actual spell on her. Kimberly is just one twisted girl. Very confused about her priorities.

**Goddess Achlys**- Yay for conflicting emotions. I wanted her to be really complex, so no other charactercould quite understand what she was thinking. Besides, she _is_ human, and an emotional girl who has experienced different traumas. She was bound to be a bit conflicted in the head. Eh, I doubt there will be any problems with Billy and Kat. Andros as well. But we'll see! Btw, I _love_ long comments! They're fun to read!

**the online dreamer**- I'm glad! I would hate to bore everyone. - I hope this chapter lived up to the others!

Thanks a lot guys!

Please Review!


	13. LoveHate Relationships

**_Hate is such a luxurious emotion, it can only be spent on ones we love. - Bob Udkoff_**

* * *

_"This will ruin everything!" He cried out enraged at the thin girl. The girl was in tears, but stood her ground. She looked exhausted and emotionally drained, and the anger exerting from her boyfriend was no aid to the situation. "You will get rid of it!"_

_Her eyes widened in horror. "But…"_

_Slap. Her face pulsed heat from where he had just hit her. A sob escaped, and her strength crumbled along with her body to the ground. "You will not argue with me, you whore!"_

_Finally, she found her voice. She would be strong. "No! I am keeping the baby!"_

_"I'll kill you for this! You've ruined my reputation, my life, everything, in just one meaningless night!" His words stung. They jabbed a knife into her heart over and over as they repeated in her mind. Before she could react, his large hands were wrapped around her slender neck and squeezing the life out of her._

_She thrashed her arms, hitting his in vain repetitively. She dug her nails into his skin until her strength again failed her, and her body relaxed against her will. Her vision clouded, and she felt his hands being pulled from her neck. Far away, or near but she could not tell, she heard a voice screaming. It sounded like her boyfriend, but another was in the room as well. It was a girl, and she sounded furious._

_A few moments later and her boyfriends terrifying shrieks were silenced. The girl's labored breathing slowed, but her vision cleared once more. Her savior had dark brown hair and was clad in jeans and a t-shirt. The brunette was staring intently into her eyes, detached concern filling them._

_She could finally see her boyfriend; his body sprawled on the concrete a few feet away. His chest was not moving, and there seemed to be liquid seeping from underneath him. Her mind was too tired to contemplate this. She opened her mouth to say thank you, but nothing happened. The fog came back, and then darkness overtook her._

* * *

"Noooo!" Voices interrupted her attention. She looked to the side of her and saw the other four rangers staring at their fallen leader, as he impacted with the water. Her earlier blow had forced them to power down, and she could clearly see the terror and sorrow in their eyes.

The blonde turned towards her. "How could you?"

Following her lead, the three boys glared at the woman before them.

"I'm evil." Kimberly scoffed. "What'd you expect?"

"It's that metal thing that did this to you!" Conner declared loudly. "You've been brainwashed!"

The villainess burst with laughter. "Brainwashed? You think I've been brainwashed? Honey, who would have brainwashed me?"

"Divatox." Trent said briskly. "She would have been the one."

"Oh, but Divatox is gone. She was purified during The Wave. All her magic against me would have disappeared." Kimberly rolled her eyes. These rangers were so naïve. Just like she had once been.

"But you _loved_ him!" Kira shouted.

"Once upon a time, kid." Kimberly replied, voice low. "That time is done. Au revoir!"

Blue mist surrounded her and she was gone.

The teenagers ran to the edge of the cliff and looked for any sign of their teacher. "It's no use. The current would have swept him away by now." Trent stated solemnly, turning away.

"No!" Kira let out a sob. Conner touched her arm in comfort, but he was having a hard time keeping his composure as well. Ethan fell to the ground, tears already dropping. His companions joined him soon after. He felt a hand clutch his, and saw Kira also grabbing Conner's. Trent sat further from the group, his head buried in his knees; his body was shaking.

They sat there, like that, until a black jeep pulled up in front of them. Kira jumped up. "Dr. O?"

"That's impossible." Ethan declared. The boys pushed themselves off the ground and stared as someone stepped out of their leaders car.

When the door shut, the person was revealed to be Hailey. She had a grim look upon her features, as if she already knew. She toddled slowly towards them, as they walked closer to her.

"Hailey, Dr. Oliver's…" Kira's voice trailed off, and she looked at the pebbles on the ground. She couldn't say the word.

Hailey nodded, her eyes swelling. "I know. Let's go to the café."

She placed an arm around the tiny blonde and guided her towards their teacher's jeep. Trent and Ethan continued after them in silence.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be." Conner murmured, looking back at the cliff where his mentor had fallen, as he followed the group.

* * *

For a moment, Kimberly almost felt guilty as she retreated from the students of the late Tommy Oliver.

_But everybody knows, almost doesn't count._ Kimberly thought of the ancient Brandy song as she landed from the teleportation in mid stride in one of the alleyways. She, unlike the Power Rangers, knew how important privacy was.

She exited the alley and persisted down the public sidewalk until she found her stranded motorcycle near Hailey's Cyberspace.

One thing she knew, she needed to get out of town quickly if she were going to pursue her next in line. First, she needed to find the position she needed to teleport to.

Kimberly lifted up the seat and lifted the small pack. She searched through the contents and smiled when she retrieved what she wanted, a crystal necklace. She folded her fingers over the crystal and closed her eyes. Softly, she whispered, "Crystal, guide me to my mind's intent."

Immediately the crystal glowed with a light pink hue and lifted out of her hand. Kimberly regarded the light with interest until it showed the very person she wanted to in projection. She recognized the location almost instantly and rolled her eyes. Some things never change.

She kicked the starter on her bike and revved the engine as her fingers wrapped around the handles. Her world became a blur as the motorcycle streaked to her destination. A few seconds after her departure, she arrived in the parking lot of a very familiar hangout. It was funny how this was exactly where she had met with him last.

The brunette knew she could not just go in there as herself, mostly because that would cause a huge dramatic scene that she really wanted to avoid. She was annoyed that it had taken her so long to get rid of Tommy and wanted this to be a quick visit.

She concentrated on the form that he might recognize; a surprise return from Antarctica was in need. As she approached the door, she caught her reflection in a window. An impish smile formed from her lips, and she brushed her orange bangs over the device that she had become attached to. Over the years, she had perfected her "morphing" and was able to pull off the outfit much like her old power ranger uniform, instead of having to constantly change back. This was much easier and more fun when it came to surprising people.

Kimberly, now disguised as "Krosa", quickly thought of a surname. She was not going to be caught off guard like the last time. The word Rose automatically came to mind. "Krosa Rose." She whispered, satisfied. It sounded girly enough.

A breath escaped passed her lips as she opened the glass doors. Instantly, she could hear his laughter and saw him hanging something from the ceiling. She felt a frown tug at her cherry colored lips. Who would he be laughing with if he were alone? It was after hours; she had figured he was cleaning up or finishing a late work out. _Oh well._ She sighed. _It's too late to turn back now._

"Well, well…fancy meeting you here again!" She stated brightly, almost cringing as old memories of her youthful energy passed through her thoughts. Her target turned around when he heard her voice. His eyes immediately lit up at the sight of her.

"Krosa!" He exclaimed and swiftly approached her. When he reached her, he enveloped her into a hug. Kimberly stiffened at the intimate contact. He appeared to notice because he let go almost as soon as he had done it.

"Sorry." He added sheepishly. "I just got caught up in the moment. I've been seeing a lot of old friends lately." He grinned, his face reddening slightly. She forced a smile and nodded in "understanding".

"Oh yeah. I know what you mean. I'm…just not used to human contact anymore." She shrugged. "You know…polar bears."

He laughed. "Yeah, that makes sense. Sorry again, though."

"Hey, are they here yet?" A familiar male voice rang from the back. Kimberly's eyes widened. She inwardly cursed at her rotten luck. The old friends comment should have rung a bell. Her reflexes must be dimming. A man with light brown hair appeared from behind the counter, he was wearing a red shirt like Jason. What is it with people continuing to wear their color even after they had finished their time as rangers?

"Who is this?" He closed the distance between them. He looked slightly confused.

Jason placed a hand on his shoulder and another on Kimberly's. "Krosa, this is my good friend Rocky DeSantos. Rocky, this is Krosa…" He paused, realizing he didn't know her last name. She smiled, proud that she had thought ahead.

"Rose. Krosa Rose." She took her former teammates extended hand and shook.

"Krosa?" His lips pursed. "You looked familiar, but I doubt I would forget a name like that. Or that hair. Nice to meet you." He smiled as an afterthought.

"You too." She said softly. She really did have rotten luck.

"I hate to say it, but if you're looking for service…the Youth Center is closed." Jason joined in. Kimberly's eyes left Rocky's and found Jason.

"Oh, well that's all right. I was just stopping by." She shrugged again.

"But," Rocky added enthusiastically, "You should definitely stay! We're throwing a party!"

"No, no-" She began to say 'That's all right', but Jason cut her off.

"It's for Ernie…he's returned." He said with the same eagerness. "You didn't get to see him last time; besides, I'd like you to meet some of my other friends."

_Oh, no_. She thought in horror. **_That_ **_is definitely not happening._ Her mind began to work in overdrive. She did not want to overexert herself by fighting two of them at the same time. It wore her out to do too much magic, so that was not an option. She would just have to wait for another time to finish this. They were both very skilled and could probably match her own if they worked together.

Before she could answer, the door opened behind them. She turned her attention to five people entering the building. Her thoughts turned even more sour as she recognized them; each, she had an opinion about.

Billy. Her heart softened slightly at the look of him, but the anger overcame the nostalgia. He couldn't really care for her anymore, considering he had never bothered to look for her when she had disappeared, and he was now holding tightly onto the blonde's hand. Then again, there was something about the atmosphere around him. He seemed…sad.

Kat. She really did not have that much against her. A villain had drastically changed her life as well; except, she was the one that ended up with a great life. Not her. Yet, she _had_ taken a couple things from her. Her power coin. Her boyfriend. Her life. Kimberly had never really shown how much it affected her that Kat had been able to replace her so easily.

Karone. Her once best friend, but as Astronema. She looked happy, and was holding a platinum blonde's hand. Kimberly almost called his out, but that would blow her cover. She was not ready to reveal herself yet.

Zhane. Her eyes clouded over when she saw the face beneath the platinum blonde hair. He was the reason she could not save Hygelac. Her breath caught as she thought the name. She had never been able to think of the only man who had befriended her without sadness filling her heart. She had to regain her composure, but the next person would not help.

Andros. He was the very _reason_ her Hulk Wannabe was not standing with her this very day. He was the cause of her going over the edge. She hated him almost more than she hated Tommy's nobleness. Almost more than Divatox, who had been the reason behind all of her hatred.

But she had to remain calm. She shook her head and noticed that they were all staring at her. Her eyes found Jason's concerned ones, apparently he had been trying to introduce her to them, but she had not responded.

"You all right, Krosa?" She saw Karone's eyes flicker with possible recognition as Jason said her fake name.

"Uh…yeah. Sorry, I just spaced a little." Kimberly forced another smile.

Jason's smiles met hers, but his was genuine. "Okay, good. I was just telling them about your trip to Antarctica. By the way, you never told me how that went?"

"Oh, it was great." She nodded. "Gotta love that weather." After the sentence came out, she cringed inwardly. That sounded as if she had just gone to Wisconsin or something. She had to come up with something better. "It was really interesting. I really found myself while I was gone. I guess that's what being separated from what you once were can do."

That was better. It wasn't even a lie.

Apparently, they agreed with what she had said because they were all nodding in comprehension.

"Do I know you?" Karone blurted out. "You look strangely familiar."

"Karone!" Andros whispered urgently.

"I don't know. You look familiar too. Are you famous?" Kimberly said the last word with a little more emphasis. Karone blushed and silenced herself, apparently still guilty about her Astronema persona.

"Sorry about that. She thinks she knows everyone." Zhane joked. "I'm Zhane." He extended a hand towards Krosa, which she stared at. She was _not_ going to shake his hand. She would not betray Hygelac like that. The smile on his face wavered when she did not return his gesture. Satisfaction filled her body when she noticed his eyes were less bright.

Jason broke the awkward silence. "She's still not used to all of this."

His short explanation seemed to be enough for the five of them, but Rocky still seemed confused. She had shaken _his_ hand after all. Kimberly saw him shrug off his thoughts, relieved that he was still an extremely laid-back guy.

"Hey, I need some help with the streamers, guys!" Rocky said, finally remembering why he had been in the back before.

"I'll help you." Karone, Andros, and Zhane chorused. Billy and Kat remained silent but headed over to the bar to make the punch.

Kimberly's eyes followed the couple. Her nerves were irritated. She had wanted to get all this over with. Visiting with them made her heart weary. She continued to stare at Billy as he sat on one of the barstools. He looked how she felt- worn out. Her frown increased, and she turned to Jason who seemed to be deep in thought as well.

"Jason, what's wrong with…the man in blue?" She tapped his arm to catch his attention. He jolted out of his reverie and shook his head while running a hand through his hair.

"That's Billy. He, well, I don't know how to say this." Jason paused and sighed. "Okay, a good friend of ours passed away a few years ago. She had moved away from Angel Grove, and even though visits were scarce between the two, they still remained as close as ever. She went missing one day, and he searched for her until the day he found out she was dead. Billy has never been the same."

Although her outsides remained concerned, her insides froze. The soul she didn't know she still had chilled her to the bone. She couldn't hear this. No. Not now, not after so many ears had passed with her believing one thing. By the look on Jason's face, she realized she was supposed to say something. "Oh, were they, uh, dating?"

Jason bit his lip and shook his head again. "No, I don't think so. They always had a soft spot for each other though. They were so different, yet so much the same. I would have liked to see them end up with each other. But Kat, the blonde, was there to help him through the whole ordeal. She helped him search too."

Kimberly chose to ignore the fact that Kat had helped look for her, and focused on the fact that she had taken yet another guy from her unintentionally. "You were good friends with her too? Did you help?"

His dark eyes clouded. "For a period of time, but I figured that it would be harder to move on if the worst were to have happened. I couldn't really bare with the hope anymore after a while. I mean, look what it did to Billy." He gestured to his blonde friend.

Kimberly could have understood his reasoning had she wanted to, but it was her life that he chose to move on from. "I feel sorry for him." She said softly. "I know what it's like to lose the people you love."

Jason's head hung a little lower as he dug his hands in his front jean pockets. Kimberly could tell he was uncomfortable with the conversation, but she wanted to continue this subject. It was time.

"What was her name?" She asked simply.

"Kimberly." Jason dwelled on her name. "Kimberly Hart. I loved that girl like my little sister. I'll always wonder what happened to her."

The move to Florida had to be the best and the worst choice of her life. She went to the Pan Globals, medalled, became independent, and basically grew up- away from the shallow valley girl she had once been. Then again, she also dumped her longtime boyfriend, lost contact with her closest friends, got kidnapped from Divatox when she tried to return for a visit, realized that her dream of going to the Olympics had diffused, became lost in her purpose, and got kidnapped by Divatox again.

She hated that with every decision she made, there was a good and a bad consequence.

"That's really sad. Why did she move to Florida?" Kimberly continued. She was interested in what he had to say about her. She wanted to know if he would let his true colors out and stop speaking so fondly of her.

Jason's eyes narrowed slightly. "She was involved heavily with gymnastics and received a chance to go to the Pan Global competitions."

Kimberly nodded. She had done a heck of a good job too. Unfortunately, none of her so-called best friends had been able to make it to her big day.

"You know, I don't remember mentioning that she moved to Florida. How did you know that?"

Shit. She knew she shouldn't have gotten so self-absorbed. It was the downfall of _everyone_.

"I…" Kimberly stuttered. "Lucky guess?"

"A bit too lucky. You guessed the right state out of 50. Did you know Kimberly?" His tone didn't seem accusing, just perplexed.

Kimberly pursed her lips. The cat was out of the bag. She didn't feel like lying anymore. "Isn't it funny how things are never as they seem? How you can never _truly_ know someone, Jason Lee Scott?"

She sighed and slowly reached for the hairline above her forehead. His stare went from confusion to horror as the dark hair was revealed from underneath the orange. His jaw dropped. Rocky, who had been observing the "new girl" from behind Jason dropped the streamers he was pinning to the ceiling. Karone cursed at him because her end had dropped as well. When she turned around to see what he was gaping at, she almost fell off the ladder. Andros and Zhane simultaneously pivoted around, each of their faces paling.

"Kim?" Jason finally sputtered, his jaw never fully closed.

"Shocker, isn't it?" She grinned slyly, staring him straight in the eye. "That I could have been alive all this time?"

"Wha…why-why didn't you say anything before?" Jason stammered. She was slightly amused by the level of his astonishment. She scanned the rest of the crowed quickly. No one else had found their voices yet.

"It would have been easier had I not been _trapped_ for a year in the services of Divatrox, Jason. By the time I got out of there, I had already found out the truth about my so called friends." She snapped. "Upset that you didn't recognize the woman you called a little sister?"

"What's the matter, Kim?" She heard Rocky say behind the original red ranger. "Why are you acting like this?"

There was a loud thump on the ground followed by a slight gasp coming from Billy. Kimberly's eyes rested on an unconscious Kat, lying on the cold hard tile. Great, that was _her_ fault. Now she had taken _that_ too? "I see she still fits perfectly in my shoes."

From the look in his eyes, she could see that Jason could care less about Kat lying on the floor. He wanted some answers pronto. With a small laugh, she shook her head. He was going to be searching for those answers for a long time. Well, until he was dead.

"Are you under a spell?" Jason questioned. That would have been the easy way out. Then they could somehow find a way to reverse the spell, and everything would be peachy again. She clenched her fists with pent up fury. The lights flickered as sparks flew out from the light bulbs.

"Why does everything have to be about a spell!" After the words left her mouth, she felt like laughing. She was a sorceress now after all. It made her sound like a hypocrite. "Why can't this ever be about _you_? Can you not _fail_ at something, or do you have to blame it on something else?"

Jason's jaw had yet to completely close, the reality not completely hitting him yet. Kimberly's glare darkened when his reply never came. "Fine. Don't answer me. Even Tommy held a better conversation than this."

"You've already been to Tommy?" Rocky interjected. His eyes were lit with worry.

Kimberly slowly turned her head to stare him in the eyes and smiled as she stated, "He was a great fighter; he never gave in, even until the very end."

As she turned to leave, she felt a hand grab her forearm. She whipped around to face the aggressor and threw him her deadliest stare. Jason immediately dropped her arm with an astonished look on his face. A jolt of electricity had coursed through his body when he touched her. He shook his arm to ease the pain.

The others, minus Kat and Billy, were approaching her as well. She really needed to get out of here.

Jason finally spoke, "Kim, wait…"

"I did. For a year. I'm done waiting." She replied quietly. She turned on her heel and pushed the door open with as much strength as she could muster. The last thing she heard was the song "Lean on Me" playing on the portable radio. She shook her head at how ironic it was that _that_ song would be playing at this very moment.

* * *

Billy watched her leave without saying a word. His normally logical brain had flown the coop. Not one of his thoughts made sense. It was only after he saw movement from his lower peripheral vision that he was able to comprehend what was going on.

Kim was alive.

Billy kneeled beside Kat and placed his palm on her cheek. "Kat," He paused. "Kat, wake up."

Her eyes slowly opened; her face contorted into a pained expression. "Wha, what happened?"

"What _did _just happened?" Rocky stood in the same spot, not ready to move.

"Kim is alive. But she's evil." Jason stated flatly.

"Evil." Karone echoed dully. "This is all my fault."

"Why do you say that?" Billy turned his attention away from Kat who was pushing herself into a sitting position.

"How do you know Kimberly?" Andros interrupted.

"How do _you_ know Kimberly?" Jason returned quickly. Obviously, Kim seemed to be very familiar with the later generation Power Rangers as well as the early.

"I met her at the villain conference just before the Space Rangers were set in motion." Andros answered. "She did seem really out of place at the time. I hadn't realized that she was serving under Divatox though."

"Kim was a ranger with you guys?" Karone questioned with interest.

"Kim was a Power Ranger?" Zhane raised an eyebrow. Andros seemed just as surprised.

"Why didn't you tell _us?_" He turned to his sister.

Her cheeks flushed. "I'm sorry. After the whole Astronema guise, I was so confused about everything, and I guess I just wanted to forget everything about _her_." She stressed the last word with a slight shudder. Zhane put a comforting arm around the blonde. "I guess when I pushed Astronema out of my mind, I also forgot about the friendships I had while I was her. I forgot about Kim."

"How is that possible?" Billy murmured, not meaning for it to be as soft as it was said. Kat threw him a look, which he caught. She probably did not expect him to say something of the sort, considering their relationship.

"She killed Tommy." Jason said faintly.

"Now, we don't know that, Jase." Rocky placed his large hand on the original red ranger's shoulder and squeezed.

"Didn't you hear what she said? Am I the only one who understands this?" His volume increased as he spoke. "She has _killed_ someone! This is _really_ happening."

He had a point, but Billy still didn't want to believe it. Tommy was at home, grading papers during his free time away from the current Power Rangers. Kimberly was alive and happy.

Yet, his mind betrayed him. He knew that Kimberly, although her character had drastically changed, would not lie about such a significant thing, especially when she knew they could easily contact him to find the truth. She was a live, but she obviously was not a happy camper. She seemed to have blamed everything on them too.

He wanted to explain to her that he had never given up on her. Not completely. He had continued building his tracking device after her "death", explaining to everyone that it was just a precaution when really it could also conclude this Kimberly mystery.

Billy glanced at Kat. She was good at fooling everyone else about her feelings, but not him. He had always been able to acknowledge her true feelings. Right now, she was torn between happiness that Kimberly was alive, horror that Kim was angry with them, and sadness that she might lose Billy.

He could tell she was hurt by the comment he made before because of the way she seemed to retreat to the loving friend now that they were talking about the situation with Kimberly. She was again second to Kimberly, like so many other things in her life.

The genius had to let her know that even though Kimberly was back, he would not leave the woman who had helped him in so many ways since their ranger days. Although he had once loved Kimberly, maybe even more than a friend, Kat was the right one for him.

He gently stroked her hair with his fingers and flashed a reassuring smile as her eyes found his. The sides of her lips turned upwards in a small smile; she understood the meaning behind his gesture. Just before he rejoined the conversation, she mouthed "Thanks." He nodded and continued to stroke her hair.

"Jason, I believe we should design a plan to stop this before she gets to anyone else." His hand left Kat's golden locks, and he stood tall. He closed the distance between his once leader and leaned in so he could whisper, "I know this is hard for you…it is for me as well, but we _need_ to get our act together. It's what we do."

Unshed tears glistened in the former red ranger's eyes. "I know, man, I just feel… terrible for not always believing you. You were right, Bill. She's alive."

Billy smiled sadly. "Jase, I don't blame you for wanting to move on, but blaming yourself will not save Kimberly."

"Do you really believe Tommy's gone?" His dark brown eyes met Billy's light blue ones.

The tables seemed to have turned. Before, it was Billy going to Jason for advice. Now it seemed that the leader needed reassurance from the great mind of someone who always appeared to have the answers. Since Zordon was no longer there to comfort them, Billy was naturally the next in line.

Billy really had no clue how to answer this. Tommy had a knack for surviving _everything_, but he would not have wanted to fight Kimberly back. The once blue ranger knew that the black ranger would have killed himself before bringing harm to his once true love.

Jason was still looking at him, pleading for an answer. "I…honestly? I don't know, but we can find out."

Jason nodded, though Billy could tell he was not completely satisfied with the vague answer. He watched Jason turn to the others and begin talking, but he wasn't really listening to what the ex-ranger had in mind.

The petite former pink ranger had reentered their lives and was immediately the center of attention. She had always been able to do that.

She was evil-supposedly-, angry…at them, unhappy with her life…enraged with everything. She was under no spell, yet she possessed magic. Divatox was no longer evil, so the ex-villain could not still have a hold on her mind. There was a strange metal device on her forehead that could very well mean something, but still one question rang through his mind: What kind of evil _was_ Kimberly?

* * *

I am _so_ sorry that it has taken over a month to update! I've had more than half of this written the whole time, but I didn't think it was good enough to post. I'm still not _completely_ satisfied, but I felt horrible that I hadn't updated! I'll try to update quicker next time. I have the next chapter planned and ready to type, so it shouldn't take a month. Hah.

it does seem I've lost a few readers, but oh well. thanks to those who reviewed!

**the online dreamer_- _**thanks! I'm glad it didn't fail at being a good chapter. Yeah, thats completely how I feel about "The Great Tommy Oliver"too. he was a great ranger, but so were the other ones. I think he got too much credit. They made Kimberly too "damsel in distress" for my taste. And the sailor moon thing was hilarious. I used to love Sailor Moon. My friends I would pretend we were them. I was Jupiter. :)

**IsabellaPaige**- Sorry the next part took so long. :) I'm glad you weren't expecting it. Although, killing off characters seems to be habit for me in all my stories.

**Funky in Fishnet**- Yeah, I know her evil is weird. I'm having a hard time defining it myself. However, each day it becomes clearer to me. hehe

**foasys.scaper- **Yeah, I'm pretty sure it did, except...he's dead. And his body probably went into shock after the impact, so the pain was short. Tommy deserved a decent challenge anyway.

**Daisyz**- Haha, I almost didn't leave it there...but I needed to end the chapter. Otherwise it would have been more than 30 pages. I actually changed the beginning of this chapter to keep things open ended.

**Ghostwriter**- She might return soon, then again she might not. Who knows...well, I do, but we'll see.

hope you guys like!


	14. Struggle

_There was never any doubt  
__All would try to take her home  
__But she refused their every move  
Preferred to be alone _

_And a rose...a rose is a rose_

**_Poe_**

**_

* * *

_**

_**The man not only had power, he dressed to show that power as well. He knew that he was at the top of his game. Everyone admired him- everything from his CEO position of one of the most prestigious companies in the world to the downright good looks he still held even with his fifty years of age. The woman with the office four rows down especially thought so. He could have her if he wanted, he supposed.**_

_**He sat at his desk late one night and counted the money, placing them in piles of ten dollars. He could only take so much, or the company might notice their funds dwindling at a rapid pace. **_

_**His workspace was decorated with good memories: his son and daughter hugging his wife, the fishing trip last summer, and the Bahamas vacation he'd used some of the company's money for. **_

_**Quietly, he placed that night's sum into the briefcase that woman had given him. Such a silly thing for her to do, giving him such a public gift. He snapped it shut and leaned back in his leather swivel chair. **_

_**Then, darkness. The lights had gone out. He sighed, standing up to switch them back on. Maybe it was that woman, trying to make the moves on him. He never made it passed the desk, however. He felt hands push him back onto his chair; a grunt resounded from his large body. Well, if she wanted him that badly…**_

_**Still, he needed to make sure it was she. "Who's there?" He mentally scolded himself for allowing fear to shake his normally arduous voice. **_

"_**That's none of your concern." It was a woman, but not the woman he had been expecting. His coworker had a higher pitched voice, while this one was guttural, yet velvety at the same time, as if she held high power wherever she was from. "I know what you've been doing."**_

_**The man couldn't see any outline of her body, even with the city lights cascading dimly into the large office. He opened his mouth to speak to the formless woman.**_

"_**I don't know what you're talking about." He protested weakly. Who could know? He had been so careful!**_

"_**Don't give me that BS, Mr. Parker." She stated sternly. So she knew his name. He felt her breath pressing on his neck as she spoke, but he still could not feel her presence. "Do you realize how power corrupts even the most innocent or gentle man? Get over yourself. Think of your kids and your wife. Do you humans only think of yourselves? Stop this, or I'll stop you." **_

**He felt movement of air pass by and then nothing. The intruder was gone.**

* * *

"I feel like we should be out there searching for him still!" Conner slammed his fist onto the café's countertop. Kira jumped at the sudden blow. Ethan, however, had no reaction at all. He had not spoken a word since they had arrived at Hailey's.

The yellow Dino Ranger sighed, "I know, Con. I feel that way too, but Trent and Hail' are out there searching. It's their shift."

Conner let out a frustrated grunt and turned so that his back was facing the petite girl. "I don't care."

The weather outside seemed to agree with Conner's fury and the tears that his teammates had shed for their fallen leader. He was surprised that Hailey and Trent had not asked one of them to go with them. Outside he heard a loud thunder sound. Lightning lit up the darkened room. By force of habit, he counted the seconds until the deafening noise returned. He let himself get lost in the powerful resonance, ignoring everything around him. For one second, he wanted to forget that he wasn't normal and pretend this wasn't happening.

A few moments passed before he felt a small hand squeeze his left shoulder. "Conner, don't shut me out. You too, Ethan. We need each other more than ever. We need to be a team."

"But Dr. O was the reason we were brought together." Ethan replied lamely. His eyes still seemed unfocused as if he was in a distant land.

"So what good would it do to break that up? It would be like a slap in Dr. Oliver's face!" Kira protested. "We need to stay unified."

"Kira, what makes you so worried about this?" Conner suddenly brought up. They hadn't been fighting or leaving. Both he and Ethan were still there sitting next to her.

Her hazel eyes dropped to the floor. She took a breath before answering his question. "I just know that once something traumatic happens to some people, they tend to drift away and retreat into a shell. I don't want that to happen to us. You guys are probably the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"Really?" Ethan asked, slightly surprised at the confession. Although, he did concur with what his female friend had to say. Before the two of them had come into his life, he had been just another nerd at Reefside with no passion save for technology. Not only that, but the red and yellow ranger seemed to balance his hobbies out remarkably with their own.

Conner seemed to be thinking along the same lines as his teammates. He nodded and gave them a small smile. "Yeah, it's true. Don't worry, Kira, we won't be leaving anytime soon."

Her smile, still sad for their tremendous loss, seemed reassured and more confident than the ones before. She glanced at her watch. "They should be back soon, hopefully with some good news."

Conner grabbed her arm and checked the time. It was only 6:30 p.m. This day had to be the longest ever.

"Just…promise me one thing, guys?" He pleaded. "Can we go out just one more time?"

A bell sounded throughout the room, and the three turned to the entrance where Hailey and Trent walked through the door. Their faces still held the somber expressions from before.

Nevertheless, the question had to be asked. "Did you find him?"

Hailey shook her head slowly while Trent found a seat next to Ethan. He buried his face in his hands and let out a long breath.

* * *

"Sounding an alarm won't help Kim, Jase." Rocky stated simply. They had been discussing the current situation for the past hour, yet they seemed to be making little ground on how to mend everything. The music from Ernie's surprise party blared behind the closed door to the office.

"I haven't been able to find anything online." Billy said from behind the computer that Adelle had left behind.

"I hate this." Kat uttered somberly. "Why can't our lives just continue on normally?"

"I don't know." Jason shook his head. "I guess that's what Zordon meant when he kept repeating that even when we won those battles, the biggest battles were yet to come."

"I really wish he was here." Kat sighed. "He would know what to do."

"I'm sorry." Karone looked at the floor. Andros was staring at a map on the wall, obviously thinking of the day that changed his and all the other ranger's lives. Zhane put his arm around the siblings sympathetically.

"Oh no, Karone, I didn't mean it that way." Kat added immediately. Her eyes pleaded forgiveness, but Karone just shook her head.

"It's all right. I know you didn't. I…just feel that the whole thing was my fault. I could have freed him at any moment, and I didn't."

"You were brainwashed." Zhane reminded resolutely. "You had no control over your actions."

"But _before_ then, I did. He was captured _before_ I was brainwashed. I could have saved Kimberly too! Instead I was selfish because all I wanted was a friend, and Kimberly became that person until I threw her to the ground." Karone folded her arms, angry that she could not seem to forgive herself. "Now look at her. She's like me: angry with the universe."

"You said she was in France?" Billy interrupted the intense conversation. Karone tore herself away from her dark thoughts and nodded in affirmation.

"Well, I figured out where she was. You gave me just enough information to locate where Divatox's lair was. It's very intriguing. Apparently, Divatox blocked all signals from penetrating a force field years ago, and it's still operating. That seems to be why I could not locate Kimberly." Billy fingered his chin thoughtfully.

"Didn't you try tracking her a few times after the crystal died though?" Kat questioned skeptically.

"Yes, but it could have malfunctioned." Billy shrugged. "Or there is something more to the piece than we thought."

"She did have that weird thing on her face." Rocky inserted; then looked at the silent Jason. He didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation.

"That could possibly be the solution." Billy copied down the position of Divatox's old lair onto scratch paper and clicked out of the program. He turned to the original red ranger who remained in his unspoken condition. "Jason?"

The dark haired ranger's eyes lit with recognition of his name, and his head snapped towards the speaker. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, you seemed to be lost in another world." Billy shrugged. "We found Divatox's old lair."

A small, sad smile grew on Jason's face. "Okay. Let's form a plan then."

Each ranger jumped when a knock came from the door. Ernie popped his head on. "Hey, guys! You going to join us?"

Kat was the first to react to the returning owner. "Oh, yes. We were just reminiscing about the old days, Ernie."

The large man grinned. "The good ol' days!"

"Yeah, they really were." Jason agreed. Ernie gestured for them to come out of the office, but closed the door as he returned to the party to give them a few more minutes of privacy.

"We need to go to Reefside first." Jason said.

"Tommy's gone, though." Zhane frowned.

"She could have been lying- trying to break us down." Andros leaned against the desk.

"I doubt Kimberly would lie. She always has been very honest, and to a point, very blunt. She says what she believes to be true." Kat shook her head seriously as Billy nodded.

"This isn't the Kimberly you knew." Andros countered.

"Maybe she believes Tommy is gone, but he survived." Jason corresponded.

"I know Tommy. He wouldn't have wanted to fight her back." Billy folded the paper with the information and placed it in his back jean pockets.

"I don't know, Jason. We've been lucky so far, not losing anybody during battles." Kat shook her head, the usual optimist gone.

"Tommy isn't dead." Jason interposed with an almost glare. "We had this bond, a connection, ever since I tried to destroy the green candle. It took us forever, but we learned to use that bond to our benefit and leaderships. I would feel it if that line was broken. We need to go to Reefside. He'll be there when we get there."

* * *

The current flowed at an astonishing rate; it was no wonder the black ranger had not been able to escape from the river that the former pink ranger had sentenced him to. The night was slowly tiptoeing towards them; the clouds covering the sun brought it closer. The storm around them only hindered them. Hailey had not let them return until the rain stopped, but the threat of it beginning again forced them to stay clear of the water. That, and the red head had convinced herself that they would be struck by lightning. As of right now, Conner could care less whether he was struck by lightning. His only goal was to find the black ranger.

It wasn't fair that someone could pick and choose when one person was going to die. Conner didn't understand how someone, especially someone like the small brunette who had once been a Power Ranger herself, could justify this. She wasn't even under a spell!

"He's not here, Conner." Ethan informed his friend, although his voice sounded as disbelieving as Conner's actions were. Kira grabbed Conner's wrist as he tried to enter the raging river. The red Dino Ranger glared at her and jerked his wrist away. Tears sprung to her eyes, and his face immediately softened. He was not the only one going through this tragedy.

"We gotta go out there, guys!" Conner exclaimed passionately. "He could be caught on a rock underneath the water or something!"

Kira sighed heavily. "If that _is_ the case, he could be caught _anywhere_ by now."

"We tried looking down here earlier man. Hailey has special devises that detect his location anyway. He isn't here." Ethan reminded the ordinarily calm jock.

"You cannot completely rely on _technology_, Eth! Don't you remember that?" Conner retorted just as firmly.

Ethan shrugged. Conner looked into his dark eyes and relented yet again on his harshness. Ethan was just reacting in his own aloof way, just like Conner was reacting in his "go get em!" one. "I'm sorry, guys."

Kira touched his bicep. "It's all right. We're sorry too…I wish we could do more."

"Don't worry, Kira. I'll make her pay for what she's done." Conner paused and contemplated his words. "For what she's doing to us."

He glanced at Ethan who, after glancing at the sky, checked his watch. "It's almost 8 o'clock, and the sun is almost completely gone. We should get out of here before we get lost in the dark. Hailey said to meet her at Dr. O's."

Conner nodded and took a heavy step towards his car. He glanced back and saw Kira still standing by the riverbank, staring intently into the water. Conner frowned and called out to her, "Kira!"

He could see that it took great effort for her to turn away from where their mentor could be currently dwelling. As she turned her face towards his, a few wet streaks glistened from the reflection of the sun. Conner felt the leader inside him straining to comfort her. Both Ethan and he immediately returned to their female counterpart and took a respective arm in theirs. They each journeyed back to Conner's car, leaning on each other for support mentally and physically.

When they arrived at Dr. O's house, their hearts broke to see the reminder of the man that would never walk through that front door again. Conner shut the door behind him and turned towards the living room. What he saw startled him. He had expected to find Hailey in the lab, but she was there in front of them with seven somewhat familiar adults.

"Here they are." He heard Hailey say. "The red, yellow, and blue Dino Rangers."

Conner glanced at his teammates who seemed equally surprised. _Has Hailey gone mad? Just because Dr. O is gone does not mean we reveal our identities!_

Instead of voicing his thoughts, however, he remained silent. He wasn't in the mood for denying anything. Hailey turned towards him and smiled. "Guys, these are former rangers."

"Oh, great." Ethan said a little dully. Conner understood his demeanor completely; they'd always complained to Dr. Oliver that he should have some of his old friends visit, and now they'd gotten their wish. Under his breath he muttered, "Well, this is isn't how I pictured it."

Only Kira and Ethan heard him. Kira spoke next, "We know. We saw you in the video that…Dr. Oliver made."

Conner mentally kicked himself for not remembering. Then again, it had been a long time ago. "Okay, for a moment there I thought the genius had gone insane. I'm Conner."

"Kira." "Ethan." They said simultaneously, but everyone seemed to have caught their names, nodding in acknowledgement.

Conner watched as the one in black stepped forward and reached for his hand. Conner immediately took it. "I'm Jason. Original Red Ranger."

He wished they were meeting under different circumstances. Still, he'd never wash his right hand again.

This began a sequence of introductions. "Zhane. Silver Space Ranger."

"Karone. Second Pink Galaxy Ranger…and Astronema." Conner observed Kira raise her eyebrow in interest. He'd have to ask her the significance of this later. Kira seemed to know all of the Power Ranger history, save their faces obviously.

"Andros. Red Space Ranger." The guy with long striped hair stated.

"Billy. Original Blue Ranger." Conner smirked as Ethan's face reacted with contained excitement.

"Rocky. Second Red Ranger." A grin escaped Conner's face. _Three_ red rangers that stood before him. Three!

"Kat. Second Pink Ranger." All three put on an 'O' face as they heard the blonde state her name and position on the team. Obviously she was the one that replaced their current problem.

Conner's heart hardened slightly at the thought of the evil sorceress. She would pay for what she had done.

After they had all sat down in Dr. O's living room, Kira sighed and asked, "Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?"

"We came here looking for Tommy." Jason replied. He had his arms crossed.

Conner exchanged momentary glances with his teammates and stepped forward slightly. "Dr. Oliver…" He gulped slightly as his eyes dropped to the ground. "He's dead."

Before there had been hope in the original red ranger's eyes, but now Conner saw nothing except indifference. The Dino Ranger realized that this was just a façade; one that every leader learned to pull whenever hard times had come.

It was the same façade that Conner was using at this very moment. He could only push the dark emotions away for so long; he was afraid that if he came face to face with his teacher's murderer, he might condemn her to the same fate. His hands clenched and unclenched, until finally Conner couldn't take the action any longer. He forced his hands to clasp in his lap. Satisfied for the moment, Conner caught sight of the other ranger's reactions. If he hadn't already hardened his heart, he might have cried along with them.

Tears fell from Kat's eyes, and Billy comforted himself by pulling her closer. Karone had the same hard face that Jason, Rocky, and Andros were dawning, and Zhane was staring intently at the wall. He had not known Tommy like the others' had, but he could still feel the pain of losing a fellow teammate and brother.

"When?" Jason strained to keep his composure; Conner admired his strength.

"This morning." Hailey intervened. She glanced at the younger rangers sympathetically. They were strong, but she was stronger when it came to a crisis.

Jason pursed his lips. "Kim, what have you done?"

Conner's forehead narrowed in response to the red ranger's statement. "Wait, how do you know about Kimberly?"

Jason's eyes met his. "She's already been to see me. God, this is all my fault."

His resolve seemed to be crumbling, or so it appeared to Conner. He saw Billy reach for the man in black. "You cannot blame this on yourself. If there is anyone to blame, it's me. I was the one who failed to find her when she disappeared."

"Neither of you can blame this on yourselves!" Kat snapped, surprising the others. "You two and Tommy always did this, and I won't take it anymore. You had no way of knowing what was happening to Kimberly. We still don't know exactly what happened. Now let's go fix this before any _more_ damage happens!"

"She's right." Andros agreed. He turned to his younger sister and added, "Karone, you know this Kimberly the best. What do you think?"

All eyes turned to the shorter blonde. She bit her lip timidly and stared at the rain that fell once again. "The Kimberly I knew was always kind, even though she was technically evil. I think it was before she turned. Since we know where she lived or possibly lives, I think we should investigate that area. Find something that might break this state of mind that she's in."

"Do you think she'll be there?" Kira questioned, finally speaking up.

Karone shook her head. "Most likely no. Not if we create a diversion."

Conner liked the way this woman thought. "What kind of diversion?"

"We have a few people stay behind and keep her busy." Karone looked to the others for more specific ideas.

"No, I will stay behind. Everyone else can go." Jason announced. Before anyone could protest he included, "Earlier she was looking for me. Obviously she knew that…killing Tommy would weaken me in a way. She must have thought that fighting six of us wasn't worth it when she came to the Youth Center, and that's why she bolted after revealing her identity."

"She hid her identity from you?" Ethan asked. "Why would she do that?"

Obviously embarrassed that he had not recognized her earlier, he replied, "A few years ago I saw her at the Youth Center, asking for Ernie…the owner…and I approached her. I didn't recognize her because at the time she had bright orange hair, and she said her name was Krosa. I guess she was hurt that I didn't realize that it was her. She came back in the same disguise. I don't know how she changed so quickly though."

"I taught her how to do that." Karone admitted guiltily. "Back when I was Astronema."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Karone. Nothing was your fault." Jason added. He threw her an understanding glance and continued. "So that will be the plan. You all will go to France, while I stay behind and fight her."

Conner, Kira, and Ethan shook their heads, horror written all over their faces. Kira spoke softly, "You can't do that."

Ethan jumped in, "We have to stay here. Mesogog might take advantage if we were to leave."

"You cannot fight her alone. Dr. O made that mistake." Conner stared at his clasped hands that were neatly placed in his lap.

"She has remarkable power." Hailey declared. "We won't allow you to fight alone."

Jason narrowed his eyes. "I won't allow anyone else to risk their lives. She wants me."

"And us later!" Kat broke in. "Listen to them, Jase. We don't want any more lives to be taken."

"We always worked better in groups." Billy joined. "The three current rangers will stay; as will Andros and Zhane. Karone, Kat, Rocky, and I will go to France."

Jason relented when he heard Billy's idea. "Fine. As long as you five stay out of the fight until I desperately need it. And I don't want you to be seen. This is between Kim and me. I want to see if I can break through to the real Kim."

"Don't you think Tommy would have been able to do that?" Kat posed. "I mean, they dated for almost three years."

Conner glanced at Kira and Ethan. That answered their questions about why there was this unspoken tension between the two of them whenever they were together, minus the whole "evil vs. good" thing.

Jason looked knowingly at the Australian blonde. A crash of thunder set the tone. "That was a long time ago. Their friendship was never really repaired after Kim broke up with him."

"Exactly, so why would Kim have harsh feelings against _him_? I would think it'd be the other way around." Kat protested as Conner wondered why she was so insistent on this idea.

"Kat, she's evil. She'd make up a reason for it to be his fault. Plus, she was angry with him when they broke up." Jason shook his head. "That wasn't the point! Trini would have been the only one who could have ended this. Since she can't be here, Billy and I are the only ones who might make a difference."

"What about me?" Kat queried. "We knew her too."

"_You_ might accelerate her anger." Jason's eyes averted to Rocky who was staring at the floor. "Rocky, are you all right?"

"Where is the phone, Hailey?" Billy suddenly asked. "I distinctly remember Zack telling me to call him whenever we needed help at Trini's funeral."

Jason's face seemed to sadden, then brighten to some extent. "Yes, definitely call him. We need people that Kimberly knows." Hailey and Billy exited the living room and entered the kitchen to find the nearest phone. Conner guessed that Zack was another original, probably the black ranger. A few minutes later, Billy and Hailey returned.

"He'll be here in a few hours." Billy affirmed. "I hadn't realized that he had moved back."

"When he gets here, do we begin then?" Rocky voiced. Conner frowned when he realized that this was the first sentence that Rocky had made since introductions. Apparently seeing Billy and Kat's disturbed looks, it was unnatural for the second red ranger to be this silent.

"As soon as he gets here." Billy acquiesced. Then he turned to the people who would be staying behind. "I have one request; if the worse comes to happen, please do not do anything rash before contacting us."

"You know I won't. Kimberly was- _is_ the heart of our team. Not even the greatest ranger can destroy his or her own heart." Jason replied.

As the words were spoken, the reality set in on Conner. This would be one of the most life-altering encounters he would face. It wasn't just an ordinary monster they would be fighting, but a human being- one that had once laughed and joked with the people sitting before him. He couldn't satisfy his own anger by destroying the hope of his heroes. As long as they believed, he believed.

Something startled him. He didn't know quite what it was, but with his heightened sense from the power, he thought he heard something outside. _Great_, he thought, _Couldn't she let us mourn for one night?_

He stood up, alarming the others who were still pondering the future events and possible consequences. "I heard something. I'll be right back."

"No way are you going alone." Ethan stood up. Kira stood up along with the blue ranger, and the trio headed towards the door. Before the reached the white door, however, it burst open, and Trent rushed through the door, stumbling.

"Trent!" Kira cried out and immediately rushed to his aid.

"I found him crawling on the ground during the storm. I was on my way back from getting us dinner." His explanation confused Conner. Peering over his shoulder and out the door, he saw a form lying on the front porch. "I couldn't get the door open with him on my back."

"Dr. Oliver?" Ethan's voice rose slightly. At once the four rushed out the door and lifted their teacher. They carried him into the living room where the others were standing, confusion written on their faces.

"You said he was crawling?" Conner interrogated the white ranger.

"Yes, he was crawling. The movement was how I was able to see him through the rain. He's lucky the streetlights were working. They usually don't have enough stability to stay on during a storm like this. By the time I got to him, though, he'd passed out."

"I'll get you a blanket." Kira proposed and ran up the stairs.

When she reached the upstairs, she couldn't hold in the tears any longer. Sobs of withheld sorrow and sobs of happiness and relief conjoined into one. She felt herself slide down the hallway wall and cradled her legs. It took a few moments to compose herself, but she finally lifted her head up and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Hopefully she didn't look like a chipmunk by the time she returned to the scene.

She didn't know which room was Dr. Oliver's, so she went to the far left and peeked in. Sadly, it was just a bathroom. The second door, however, was the right choice. She decided that she should find a sweatshirt for both of them as well. She searched through the closet, only pausing for a moment to contemplate that she was snooping through her teacher's closet, and found one white one and one black one. _Perfect_, she grinned.

As she crossed the bedroom, something on Dr. Oliver's bed caught her eye. It was a thick manila folder, with contents spilling out the side. Out of curiosity, Kira found herself retracing herself back to the bed. Setting the sweatshirts down on the comforter, Kira fingered the papers. When her interest was too hard to fight, she finally opened the folder and filed through the papers. They were all letters from one person. Kira couldn't help herself- she began to read:

_Dear Tommy,_

_It's only been three hours since the plan took off, and I already miss you guys like crazy! You in particular. And my smoothie. I don't know how I'm going to survive training without Ernie's smoothies! _

_I hate to have to write vague letters. This will kill me, not knowing the exact details of what is going on. You know how curious I can be! Haha! You have to promise to keep me as informed as possible though. I'm afraid you're going to want to kill me because I'll be calling you so much! _

_Tell Adam, Rocky, Aisha, and Billy that I miss them terribly and love them! I wish they could have seen me off at the plane, but I understand their reasons. And tell Kat that she will be wonderful; I did pick her to be my successor for a reason._

_I'm really scared, Tommy. I don't know what will happen within the next few months. It's not the normal spur-of-the-moment thing that I'm used to. This is my future, and I don't want to fail or make the wrong choice. I really hope that leaving you guys, and you, was not the wrong choice. I know that you promised you would always be there for me, and you always have been (thank you so much for that), but I still have my doubts. I wish that we were still young and didn't have to make these choices._

_I'm not used to not being able to see you whenever I want. We barely ever went 24 hours without seeing each other; now what will I do? I doubt Zordon would allow teleportation. I can hear him say it now, "Teleportation was not made for your own pleasure," or something along those lines._

_I wish you could visit me. Don't feel bad though! You have a responsibility to take care of issues that will always be more important than I am. Remember to be true to your heart and follow your instincts. You are a great leader, Tommy. Don't ever doubt your abilities. I believe in you and have faith that you will lead us all to triumph one of these days._

_I'd better go now; they're bringing dinner! Great yummy plane food! Woo!_

_I love you with all my heart! Never forget that.  
__Love always,  
__Kimberly_

_P.S. Catch ya on the flipside! ;-)_

Kira blinked a few times to let everything settle in. Kimberly wrote this; the same Kimberly they were planning on battling within the next 24 hours. Kira leafed through a few more, catching a few lines like, "I miss you more everyday; and I cannot wait for a chance for you to visit me!" and "I love you so much. Everything I see somehow reminds me of you." Kira only stopped when she saw that the handwriting changed. Somehow, Dr. Oliver had all of his replies to her letters as well.

_Beautiful,_

_It seems like years since I saw you last, but it's only been a few months. I keep replaying every memory we have together, just to make it seem like you were here. So far, it has kept me sane. Unfortunately, it does seem a bit obsessive, and Billy wants to have me checked out. Haha This has been a bad week. Lately, they've been picking on me. I think they realize that I'm in a vulnerable state, otherwise they have really good timing. I find myself wishing I had told you not to go, but every time I take it back. You were given the opportunity of a lifetime, and if I had asked you to turn it down then I wouldn't be able to bear with my selfishness._

_I hope training is all right- better than my training. Are you having any signs of withdrawal? Please tell me if your emotions are roller-coastering or not; I don't want you to go through anything like that alone, especially since you wouldn't let me when I lost my own._

_The other day I was looking through a few of the letters you sent me, and I found the lyrics and music that you and Zack wrote for me afterwards. I don't know if I ever truly got to express my thanks and love for that song. The next time we see each other, I want you to play it for me. Speaking of that, I might be able to take a vacation soon. Big Blue has been hinting at a break for the past week. It wouldn't be like Australia though- only a few of us could get off at a time. I think Billy, Kat, and I have the first choice. (Rocky and Adam tried to pull seniority off of Kat, but they couldn't decide who should get it first. Haha. I wish you could have seen the props they used to plead their case!)_

_Rocky is making fun of me right now. He says I'm getting fat because instead of working out, I sit on my butt all day writing letters to you. Pretty soon he's going to get a foot shoved up his own butt if he doesn't stop. We have to do a marriage project soon. I'm not looking forward to it…mostly because I can't think of marrying anyone except you (even if it is pretend), and you're not here. Okay, I have to go beat Rocky up. I'll write you another one this week to make up for this one ending short!_

_I love you!  
__Your White Tiger_

_Some good advice from the wise Tommy ;-) : Just because we don't have our powers, doesn't mean we're not Power Rangers. You'll always be a Power Ranger in our eyes, Kim!_

They really had been in love. They had even talked about marriage! The thought of getting married within the next year gave Kira the willies. She placed the letters aside and found a newspaper article about Kimberly moving to Florida to train for the Pan Globals. A picture of the gymnast was right beside the article. She really was beautiful.

The next paper had musical notes and lyrics. This must be the song mentioned in Dr. Oliver's letter. The lyrics were not very personal, but then again Dr. O had said that Zack co-wrote it. He probably wouldn't let Kim write anything sappy.

Kira felt more connected with the Kimberly that the older ranger's knew. Surprisingly, Kira had many things in common with the original pink ranger. Kira made a mental note to make sure that Conner, Trent, and Ethan got a history lesson on her. She felt that it would be a good thing for the boys to learn about the woman they would be facing soon. Not for leverage, but also for the sake of the other rangers.

Kira neatly placed the papers back into the folder and bounded down the stairs. She entered the living room and smiled when the familiar voice, though softer than usual, brought joy to her heart.

"Hey, Jase." Tommy said wearily. He was still sprawled on the couch. Kira covered him with a blanket. He nodded, "Thanks, Kira."

Jason grinned. "Took you long enough."

* * *

Aaaah::frustrated sigh: I am so sorry I haven't been updating that much. Seems I've lost a few readers though. Oh well, I love you all:)

Anyway, I feel that some of this is going in the wrong direction, so I'll be working on fixing that. The next chapter is a biggie, so I don't know when I'll end up posting that since it really needs patching.(Although, it isn't the last chapter.)

Any suggestions, comments? Anything. You guys do have a lot of input into how this story goes, like the characters and such!

Much love,  
Lar


	15. No Good Deed

**

* * *

****No matter how a story will unfold  
****You know I always will  
****Have part of you here  
****In this souvenir  
****This sweet spanish doll**

**Poe**

* * *

Surprisingly it was easier to get a hold of Kimberly than he had thought it would be. She seemed to be lurking everywhere, ready to fight at a moment's notice. The moment was bittersweet for Jason. He wanted everything to be over with and Kimberly safe and good, yet he wished that the day had never come. He was her older brother! He couldn't fight her knowing that this could be the end for her. Or him. The former ranger had learned the hard way not to underestimate the powers of the dark side. Tommy hadn't either. He had even insisted that Jason borrow his brachio staff.

"_Just in case."_ _His good friend had told him, his eyes downcast._

"You and Tommy are both the same." Kimberly snarled. "Wait until the opponent attacks."

"If it's always been a successful plan, why change?" Jason challenged as she paced a circle around him.

"Because this opponent knows all your moves, Jase." She threw him a look of disdain. He wished she would wipe that awful glare off her beautiful features. He wanted to remember her smile, but it had been so long since she had graced them all with it. Now that he thought about it, the last time she had actually smiled the genuine and contagious grin he was used to seeing was when he had bid her goodbye at the airport after the Muranthias incident.

Fed up with all his evasion, Kimberly leapt at him. Instinctively, his arms blocked her from firing a fierce punch at his collarbone. Quickly after the first blow, a second one followed, then a third. Being on the defense gave him an important advantage. If he could keep it long enough, she would eventually tire while he had harbored energy left.

Kimberly swiveled around to deliver a high kick, but he ducked just in time to avoid contact. Immediately after her foot hit the ground, he swung his leg around and swiped her foot of the ground. She fell on to her back and cried out in pain. He winced when he heard her bones colliding with the ground. However, instead of rushing to her aid like Tommy had done, he stood up and patiently waited for her to recover.

Kimberly flipped to her feet and charged at him again. She attacked him at a more rapid pace this time, throwing punches left and right and kicks in the middle. Every once in a while, she would actually make contact with his torso or face, but not enough to do very much damage. She growled in frustration, knowledgeable of what he was doing.

After an attempted snap kick, Jason found an opening on her right side and prepared for a roundhouse punch. In spite of this, she managed to recover before he could reach her and grabbed his arm. Immediately after the pull, he felt himself flying above her head and crashing onto the ground. Jason grunted and flipped to his feet prepared for another assault.

She was coming at him at a tremendous speed, and it became conscious to him that he would need to use the brachio staff to counter this attack. With speed that defied the laws of human ability, he whipped the staff out and swung.

"Aaah!" Kimberly cried out in pain and fell to her knees. Her hands pressed against her eyebrow. Jason looked away, unable to see her in excruciating pain. Pain that he had caused. Her shoulders drooped, and she cautiously removed her hand from her forehead. The metal plate was gone. It lay on the ground beside Jason's foot. Jason winced seeing her hand covered in blood that raced down her arm. Blood still trickled down the side of her face.

Kimberly, in her vulnerable state, looked up into his eyes. Slowly, she stood up, shoulders back. He had always admired her persistence, but now he wished she would give up. Jason realized that he had her against a wall of a building and closed the distance between them.

"How did this happen to you?" Jason exclaimed throwing his hands down aggressively. "This isn't who you are, no matter what you think."

"You don't know who I am anymore." She scoffed, chuckling bitterly to herself. "**_I_** barely recognize myself."

"How could you just give in?" He stared intently at his younger "sister" determined to find a way to end this in his favor.

Kimberly looked down before returning an equally indomitable gaze. "You want to know how "Little Miss Perfect" turned into something her friends can't stand now? Do you know what betrayal can do to a person? The feeling of being betrayed, or even let down, by your closest friends can eat away at a person's heart for only so long before there is nothing left. Because of this, I was able to see the world in a different light. One that wasn't in my sheltered cheerleader world and even the Power Ranger world. There is a much broader line between evil and good, but we never learned that. Sometimes, there are people, like Astronema, who are trained to be evil their whole lives. To people like her, that is all they know; it's not _bad_. The _other_ side is bad. I can tell you that the world we live in is so corrupt. Millions of people die alone, everyday, just wanting to be loved; people are driven insane, not just psychologically like schizophrenia, but in the heart. They have no soul, and it is because of the actions of other people. What do you have to say to that? Could _you_ be the same person knowing that, Jason?"

Inside Jason's mind was in turmoil, not that he didn't understand what she was saying, but how to reason with her. He did know the corruption she was speaking of; he dealt with it everyday while living in Switzerland. He had changed tremendously since leaving Angel Grove for the first time, but he was able to cope with the tragedies by doing his best to stop the issues. After a few moments of contemplation, he breathed in deeply.

"You, Kim of all people, were the last that I expected to be affected by the power of evil."

Her eyes squinted as the glare that decorated her typically delicate features increased. Jason tensed as she pressed her body against his. "I am not under the influence of _power_. Power and pride are the reasons behind the majority of the matters I am talking about."

Jason's gaze traveled from her furious one to the three slices above her eyebrow. They would scar, leaving a mark of this time and place. She could never look in the mirror without remembering these days. Before he could stop himself, he found his hand tracing the cuts, and surprisingly she did not recoil from his touch. After his fingers memorized the slashes, he cupped her face with the same hand. Her brown eyes were filled with confusion and to his surprise, tears. "I am sorry that I failed you. Please, come back to me."

A single tear fell from the corner of her eye, but she quickly wiped it away, erasing its existence. Using full body strength, she pushed him off of her. "You're too late."

Jason stumbled backwards slightly startled by the sudden force. He shook his head to clear the disorder in his mind and prepared to fight. The warrior knew he was going to have to fight her, but he also realized that he could not forget that this was Kimberly. He could not forget that and destroy her, or he would be worse than she was behaving.

"You asked if I could be the same person knowing what a corrupt world we have, and you're right: I couldn't. I can't. I already _know_ the corruption in the world because I have observed it, lived it, and fought against it!" Jason paused to take a deep breath. Kimberly was heaving deep breaths as well, but despite her exhausted panting, her glare remained constant and controlled. "Kimberly, what _you_ are doing is evil! How can you justify these actions? Getting rid of the human race will fix nothing!"

"From my point of view, I'm not the evil one." Kimberly's fists balled as they prepared for battle. "I was hoping I might have an ally in you- that you would understand."

"This is a path that I cannot follow." Jason shook his head as he spoke. She couldn't possibly expect him to agree with this. The woman before him was truthfully not his Kimberly anymore.

"I wasn't asking for a sidekick, Jason. Sidekicks only cause problems. I'm a loner." She stepped forward. "Surprising isn't it? No one would ever have expected that I would become more powerful than all of you."

The petite girl seemed much taller now. Pride and power consumed her whether she would admit it or not. Jason looked down into her eyes as she continued to step closer. A deep laugh escaped passed her cherry lips. "The pitiful pink ranger has surpassed the big bad red ranger."

"You haven't even fought me yet." Jason's eyebrows narrowed with anger. She was trying to goad his pride into taking over his thoughts and actions. "Kimberly, stop. It won't work."

"I don't need to fight you to know that you are weak now. You don't use your full power. You've always held back. What, Jason? Are you afraid of what you might accomplish?" Kimberly scoffed placing her hands on her hips. Jason's eyes left hers and gazed upon the setting sun. It was ironic that such a horrible deed was to be done in such a beautiful setting.

"No, Kim, I know what I could accomplish. I choose not to demonstrate that, however. Life is all about choices and consequences. You make a choice, and you better be ready to suffer the consequence." Jason's stare returned to hers. She nodded in understanding and raised her saber. Jason followed suit holding back tears that he knew he could not shed.

* * *

While Tommy and Kat were searching the upstairs level, Billy and Karone found themselves exploring the bottom. They had not sensed evil beings when entering the large building, so they felt that splitting up was the best decision. From the looks of things, they needed to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Billy hoped that Jason could distract Kimberly long enough for them to be successful.

"I remember her mentioning something about a book." Karone said as she followed Billy through an intricately decorated hallway of the castle.

"Well, if she still has it, it should be located here." He said over his shoulder. The decorations really were fabulous. As he observed the paintings, the history they told, he wondered how long this castle had been standing. "Karone, where would she have kept it stored?"

Karone bit her lip. "I'm not sure. I distinctly remember her reading it in her room once. It might be there?"

Billy nodded. "Let's make contact with Tommy and Kat."

* * *

"What's this?" He whispered curiously to himself. Behind him, he could hear Kat searching through a large closet. It looked massive, about a thousand pages longer than any book Kim would enjoy reading.

"What is what?" The blonde appeared beside him. She took a closer look as Tommy fingered the binding and gasped. "Oh…wow!"

Tommy opened the first page. There seemed to be an address of some sort. As he read, he concluded that the book was to be kept in the family.

_No one, save one,  
__My heir,  
__The purest of heart  
__The strongest of mind,  
__Will inherit the powers of the Moon and Sun,  
__Beware! Do not use them as I did  
_And find your fate with hell!

"Woah, what is Kimberly doing with this?" Kat's eyes were wide as she read over his shoulder. "Powers of the Moon and Sun?"

"Yes, and it seems that she's been using the book…so that must mean that…" Tommy left his statement open ended. Both he and Kat knew what he was about to say. Kimberly was the heiress to this great wizard. However, the address did say to use the powers for good or there would be consequences. What could that possibly mean?

"I can't believe Kim is a witch." Kat said suddenly.

"She's been using spells to enhance her battles, but she never once used this." Tommy informed the second Pink Ranger.

"It just seems so unlike her. I mean she must have gotten this before she turned, so why would she take something with so much power?" Kat bit her lip and sat on the bed.

"I guess she needed more reassurance that she could take care of herself. She told me herself that she gave up on us finding her, and it must have made her feel weak that she couldn't save herself. I know how much she hated that she was always the target for kidnapping." Tommy explained. "Zedd and Rita really screwed her up, always making her out to be the weakest of the group. I guess Divatox managing to do it twice sent her emotions skydiving."

"Tommy," Kat broke in after he took a moment to breathe and collect his thoughts. "I have a question, and I don't want you to take it the wrong way." She paused and gave him a meaningful look, her blue eyes searching his brown. When he didn't answer, she continued her thought, "Do you still love her?"

Outwardly, Tommy's eyes dropped but he maintained tranquility and indifference. On the inside, however, a different story was being written. He hadn't had much time to think about his emotions, let alone _love_. And, Lord, did everyone know how much he needed and cherished those moments of meditation. Her question did seem random, but it was appropriate in a way. Tommy did seem overeager to find a "cure" for Kimberly; he knew that, but he wasn't sure if it _had_ to be because he was _still _in love with the woman he once thought he would spend the rest of his life with.

He hardly knew her now. He barely knew who she was. She had changed drastically, even before she had crossed sides. Could he still love her, even though he was unable to announce her favorite TV show or her favorite junk food? He guessed it was so, but he was still wary of the idea. He didn't know whether he was ready to settle down into that type of commitment again if it were true. Then again, who was to say that _she_ still loved _him_?

"Tommy?" Kat prodded again. Her face expressed worry, and Tommy realized he had drifted into his own dimension again.

"I don't know…" He finally answered. "I don't think it would be right to say that right now."

Kat nodded in understanding. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again." She said softly. "The worst might happen within the next few days." She placed a hand on his and gave him a sympathetic smile.

At that moment, Billy and Karone entered the room. Billy donned a strained look on his face, but it softened when he saw the anguish in Tommy's eyes.

"Oh, you _found_ it!" Karone cried out, breaking the silence. "She said that there were all types of spells in there."

"I expect that there is at least one that can stop this!" Billy declared. He would not allow them to come so close to saving Kimberly and fail.

"But who will cast the spell? Don't you have to be a sorcerer or something?" Kat reminded them.

"I'm sure we could find _someone_." Karone added with a mischievous look in her eye. The others stared as a slight smirk grew on her pretty features. "What? I _know_ people. I'm not the only one who wants to make up for my past." She stated simply. "Think."

Billy's eyes were the first to lighten. Then again, he was also a genius. "Oh come on, you guys. It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out." Karone crossed her arms and popped her hip. She shot Billy a look that rivaled her Astronema days ordering him to keep quiet. He nodded slightly and gulped the answer down. He covered his mouth as he leaned against the door frame.

Finally, Tommy remembered one woman who had caused more destruction to the universe than anyone before. She had been the worst of the worst for centuries until Zordon and his team had entrapped her in a capsule. She was the reason he had become a Power Ranger. It was sad to say that he owed her a thanks for choosing him to be her accomplice to destroy the rangers, knowing the outcome. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be here. By the look on Kat's face, he could tell she was thinking the exact same thing.

"The question is, how do we get a hold of her?" He asked, and Karone just smiled.

"I have my ways. The only reason I became a ranger is because I kept my foot in the door of the "evil villain" world. I was able to find that saber for a reason, you know."

"All right…" Kat joined in. "Next question, how long will it take?"

Karone bit her lip, but Billy spoke for her. "She is on earth. Zordon gave me a device to track her and Zedd when we were rangers…just a general one that can tell me what planet they are on. She hasn't left earth since the transformation."

"Great! Then it's settled! You two transfer the book back to a safe place!" Karone clapped her hands excitedly. "And Billy and I will call Rita!"

* * *

Kimberly slammed into the wall. A loud yelp forced out of her lungs. Her former leader had certainly kept his abilities regardless of the many years passed. Seeing that she was trapped, Kimberly used her remaining strength to flip over the tall man's head. Fortunately for her, he had not been expecting this maneuver and allowed her to do so with no counterattack. Immediately after landing, she swung her saber across his abdomen with the force of at least two grown men.

Jason, despite being in great shape, was not strong enough to withstand this attack, and since he had not been preparing for such a blow, he found himself flying through the air. It was only after he hit an obstacle that his body hit the ground. Kimberly marched closer to his fallen body with a cocky sway. "You see, Jason, you cannot beat me!"

Jason groaned and tried to use the strength he had left to push himself off the ground, but she kicked him down before he could do so. "I don't think so."

Her grin faltered, and her hand instantaneously flew to her chest. She grabbed at the wall that Jason had collided with. Jason blinked, unsure of the nature of her actions. Kimberly regained her composure, still leaning against the wall, and opened her eyes. Her dark brown eyes found the moon, and for a moment, she felt at peace. Then the feeling of trepidation returned, and she understood what it meant.

"Someone has taken my book." She threw a look down at Jason, who had not moved since the brutal landing. She noticed how pathetic he looked with his head propped against the wall and his body immobile. She crouched down to be nearer to his face and spat out, "I bet _you_ have something to do with this."

Jason tried to shake his head but couldn't. Was he paralyzed? He gazed at his hand that seemed so far away and commanded his finger to move. He sighed with relief when it moved obediently.

Meanwhile Kimberly was currently scolding herself. "How could I have been so stupid! Of _course_ this was a set up. You act as a decoy, while everyone else finds my "secret lair"." She used air quotes to emphasize the last two words.

"A book?" Jason managed to gasp out. His head drooped onto his shoulder as he focused on her secretive stare. He couldn't tell what her next move would be- kill him or get her book. "What book?"

Kimberly snorted and stood up. Jason noticed that despite her petite body, she still towered over his. "I can't believe it. Do you think I'm like all the others? I'm not going to tell you."

Kimberly continued to stare down at him until finally she threw her arms down frustrated with the circumstances. She commanded in a deep tone, "Get up, Scott." Immediately after her words, a golden light flew from her outstretched hands towards his body.

He felt strength immediately fill his bones. He slowly made his way up to a standing position, wondering the whole time what she had done to him. She shrugged. "I did nothing other than give you a boost of energy. It was pathetic, how easily I was able to beat you."

"Jason!" Both of the opponent's heads snapped to their right as they heard an intruding voice. It was the Dino Rangers clad in their suits.

Kimberly's gaze returned to Jason, this time with a baleful glare. "Rangers to the rescue? I didn't realize you were that weak, Jason. And endangering the younglings?"

Before he could call out to the others to back off, they had charged at her. They didn't understand that she had actually helped him. He finally had proof that there was still good in here! Unfortunately, Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent were too busy attacking Kimberly to listen to him.

"Guys! Stop!" Jason called out in vain. After a few moments, he rushed in the middle of a jaw breaking punch from Ethan and blocked it from breaking Kimberly's nose.

Ethan, with amazing reflexes, shouted in pain as he abruptly maneuvered to avoid hitting the former ranger. Using his supersonic speed, Conner caught Ethan before he hit the ground. Kimberly seemed to be eyeing him questionably as well. Her forehead was creased in a puzzled expression. With hands on her hips, Kira questioned Jason's motive. "What's up?"

Jason turned to Kira, his mouth slightly agape, and thought of something quick. Truth be told, he didn't really know why he had stopped the fighting. He knew that there was good in her, but that didn't mean that Kimberly had realized it as well. She would continue fighting until she had either killed them all or she herself was killed. He couldn't bear to lose her when they were this close to saving her. "This fight is between Kimberly and me. No one else should interfere."

"But you almost died!" Trent shouted out fervently.

"Almost doesn't count." Jason knew that if he had been able to see the faces of the young rangers, their protest would be evident. Other than Trent's outburst, they did nothing to stop him.

"We understand." Kira replied softly.

Conner nodded. "But we're staying close by. Just in case."

"You never cease to surprise me, Scott." Kimberly spoke after the four rangers backed away. "You were always such a team player."

"Not if it involved killing the rest of the team." Jason countered. "You know I would have done the same for you. Besides, five against one is hardly a fair fight, right?"

"You don't need to protect me." Kimberly griped. "I can handle whatever you throw at me."

Jason shook his head boldly. "Kim…"

* * *

Tommy was amazed at how quickly Rita- no, Elaine now- had agreed to helping them. Karone was right that she wasn't the only ex-villain that wished to be redeemed for all past mistakes. He hoped that Jason was holding out. Already, night had fallen.

He found it ironic that his former nemesis was sitting in his living room drinking a beer. Not only was she sitting there drinking a beer, but the former Lord Zedd- now Richard- was sitting beside him. _Him_. Less than a decade ago, they were at each other's throats prepared to kill each other.

"Do we need to teleport to Kimberly's location?" Billy glanced shyly at Rita—Elaine, he meant. It felt weird to be calling her such a normal name. Tommy shook the conflict away from his head. He would just call her Rita for now.

Rita shook her head. "No, it's not necessary. Do we have everything?"

"Right here." Kat entered the room and set a large brown paper bag down on the coffee table. "Karone and I had a hard time finding the amethyst."

Tommy found himself behind Rita as she pulled each element out of the bag.

One piece of paper.  
One blue pen.  
One red pen.  
One amethyst stone for clear vision.  
Lavender dust harmony.

From over her shoulder, he peered at the spell she had discovered in the book. When they had first revealed the book to her, she had reeled back in shock. Apparently, the book had been considered destroyed to all the wizards and witches. Otherwise there would have been a major hunt for the powerful manuscript.

"Shut off the lights." Rita commanded. At once everyone rushed to turn off all the lights. After doing so, they returned to their position behind Rita. However, Tommy remained by the wall to the right of everyone. He felt his resolve crumbling as the nerves overtook his mind. The moon created an eery blue glow to the room. He stared at the silhouettes of everyone, unable to make out their emotions.

Tommy had memorized the spell while Karone and Kat searched for the essentials they needed. It seemed to be a subconscious thing because he had not realized he had done it until just now. He watched Rita intently as she wrote Kimberly's name on the paper with the blue pen. Over the name she drew a pentacle. The former witch seemed very determined not to mess anything up, despite the simplicity of the spell. Steadily she turned the sheet over and took the red pen in her hand to write four words:

COMPASSION MERCY

KINDNESS FORGIVENESS

Carefully, she drew a heart around them and sprinkled a few pinches of lavender dust onto the paper. Tommy observed as she folded the paper four times and sprinkled more dust around and on top of the paper. Finally, Rita opened her mouth and uttered the words as if she was in a deep trance.

**_May these gifts fill your heart, Kimberly_  
_And when you are given the chance_  
_To sentence someone, may you find_  
_Forgiveness and mercy_  
_Force this evil from your heart  
Flee rotten spirit  
Leave her own to roam free  
As she once was, let her be._**

Something felt wrong. Tommy knew that Jason was in trouble, and needed his help as soon as possible. When she opened her eyes, Tommy knew she was finished. He immediately stepped forward. "Billy, teleport me now."

* * *

Kimberly ducked as Jason threw a jab at her and kicked him in the back of the knees. He groaned when he hit the ground and again when she stomped her foot on his middle. "I told you that you couldn't win!"

"What good will it do," Jason paused to catch his breath. "Killing me?"

Kimberly kicked his side forcing him to roll onto his stomach. "You'll finally get the punishment you deserve. All of you."

"Stop!"

Kimberly rolled her eyes and sighed. "What now?"

Slowly she turned around expecting to see the four rangers charging at her. Instead she found herself staring at someone whom she believed was dead. "Tommy?"

Kimberly turned back around to see Jason steadying himself. He was staring at her attentively. She snapped her head back at Tommy who was now running towards her. Frustration, anger, and humiliation bubbled inside of her. Not only had he tricked her, he now had the advantage.

Kimberly raised her arms to the sky and called upon the moon to give her strength. She could feel the blue energy seeping into her fingertips as she gathered all the energy. If she was going to die, she would take out the two men she hated most along with her. Finally, she lowered her arms to be perpendicular to her body and released the energy at the two who were now running at her.

She watched in horror as the energy bolts were blocked by the two of them using some power source unknown to her. The energy reflected off of the shield and made its way back towards its source.

She couldn't even scream when the two bolts struck her- one in the side and the other on her neck. All she could do was allow herself to collapse. Her knees buckled and the ground rushed at her.

Let go.

* * *

**I can tell you why  
people go insane  
I can show you how  
you could do the same  
I can tell you why  
the end will never come  
I can tell you on  
the shadow on the sun **

**Audioslave**

* * *

Sorry that took so long. I think my subconscious wasn't letting me update this because I'm so close to being done. Hopefully you like this chapter!

Wow. One more to go and it's done!

Thank you for the reviews, I'll make a big reply to each of you for the last chapter! (to make up for all the times I've been lazy! Haha)**  
**


	16. For Good

* * *

_**But there's only so far I can go  
**__**When you're living in a hallway that keeps growing  
**__**I think to myself, "five more minutes and I'll be there  
**_**Inside your door"**

**Poe**

* * *

Billy arrived at the scene to see the backfire of Kimberly's energy. Of course, the spell that Rita had just cast was the cause of the boomerang effect.

**"_And when you are given the chance_ _to sentence someone…" _He quoted. _But it wasn't supposed to__ injure_ _her!_**

**He rushed forward when she buckled to her knees. In one swift motion he had somehow kneeled down and caught her small, limp body in his arms. Quickly, he situated her legs and turned her body over so that he was now cradling her body as if she was a little child. Her dark brown eyes, completely glassed over, stared into his. No, not into, but passed. It frightened him. He shook her slightly and softly whispered the words,**

"Hey, Kimber, it's me, Billy."

She didn't move; her eyes remained still. He shook her again. Tears threatened to fall from the corners of his eyes, but he refused to give up. Finally after a few moments, the glass seemed to dissolve, and her eyes acted. A soft yelp escaped passed Kimberly's lips. Then, brown met blue.

"Billy?"

"Kim?" Billy didn't even flinch when his voice cracked. Her voice was low and hoarse.

The small woman burst into quiet tears. Billy's heart flipped. It had worked. She was all right. He saw that her breathing was forced and difficult. He quickly brushed the observation out of his mind. She had just been through something more traumatic than any of them all…and survived.

"Shh, it's all right, Kim. Everything's fine." Billy embraced and consoled her by rubbing her back.

He pulled away to look at her again, overjoyed that she was back. The real Kimberly. Their heart. However, through the joy, he did notice that her body was still limp and she did not return his embrace. In fact, even though he had pulled away from her, he was still supporting her full upper body. The familiar worried expression returned to his face.

"What's wrong?" He heard Jason ask. Billy had not noticed that Tommy and Jason had crept up behind him during his act of white knight saving the damsel in distress.

Billy shook his head, unsure of the solution. "I…don't know."

"What's the matter, Kim?" Tommy examined softly. He cupped her face that was resting against Billy's bicep with his large hand. She seemed slightly dazed and only returned their gazes when he said her name. She smiled gently.

"Can you move?" Billy concluded nervously. Maybe the energy bolts had paralyzed her. He don't know what they would do if that was the case.

She opened her mouth to speak but, after a moment's contemplation, shut it again. The only thing she managed out was, "I'm sorry."

Her eyes glazed over again, and her attention turned to the sky above them. Billy's heart dropped to his stomach, and he knew he was going to be sick. She was dying. Giving in. They had done this to save her and killed her instead.

He held her until she heaved a ragged breath that was to be her last. The moon shone brightly above them.

Billy sighed as he entered the glum scene. All of the original rangers and the current rangers were standing in the delicately flowered room with purple flowered wallpaper. This seemed so familiar.

_That's right_. Billy thought to himself. _Because we've done this before_.

Except, this time, to save themselves the trouble of having to explain their earlier mistake about Kimberly's death, they had all agreed to keep this funeral strictly private. Instead of dragging the "event" out for two days with a visitation and then a funeral, they decided to combine the two. Why put any of them through more torture?

Five years before, her parents had not had the heart to stick an empty coffin in the ground and had settled with placing an intricate headstone in the ground where her body would be had this been a normal death. Now, there was a body of a beautiful petite brown haired girl placed in an oak coffin ready to be buried beneath the earth.

Billy didn't know which was easier. No body and proclaimed dead or body and pronounced dead.

Kat looked at him through the tears in her big blue eyes and reached for his hand. He took the comforting gesture and looked at the floor. Gently, he squeezed her fingers and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I can't believe it." Zack finally voiced. He had arrived shortly after the whole incident ended. "We were so close."

Aisha sniffled but spoke positively, "At least…at least she was as we all knew her when she went. Not an evil bone in her body."

Billy winced despite her optimistic view. He knew that it was how he should be thinking, but it was so hard to cope with the fact that he had failed her once again. What had he done so wrong to deserve this kind of torment? Yes, he had been blessed throughout his life, but nothing was worth it if he had to suffer this consequence. He'd give everything, his diplomas, inventions, awards…his experience as a Power Ranger, and hell, his _life_ to get Kimberly back.

"I'm sorry."

Those were her last words. She had used her last moments to declare her true feelings. To some people the words "I'm sorry" would not reveal much, but the way Kimberly had said them exposed her soul to the three men whom she had grown into a woman with. Only Kimberly would be able to say a thousand words in only two. She _was_ sorry. She loved them and had no hostility towards them. Only forgiveness and compassion- just like the spell had been meant to restore in her heart.

The spell would not have worked had those emotions not existed in her heart to begin with.

Tommy sat in a tacky plush chair, isolated from everyone else. He had his face buried in his hands. Billy considered approaching him but decided against this notion. Tommy needed solitude to think things over. Only Kimberly had been the one who had been able to truly console him in dire times, though others had tried.

Jason occupied himself by pacing on the other end of the small room. He had not isolated himself completely; when other's talked to him, he would respond. However, he seemed deep in thought and like he wished that everyone would not bother him.

Andros seemed equally affected by the current events even though he had not been fighting along with them. He had argued, but Jason had shot him down. Jason had explained that when Kimberly had been observing everyone in the Youth Center, she had fire in her eyes when she recognized Andros. While she had anger in her eyes for the others, her reaction for seeing Andros seemed to imply that there was a deeper hatred for the red space ranger. After hearing this, Andros withdrew from the argument and meditated to himself. Billy wondered what his relationship was with Kimberly.

The one person he could not explain was Rocky. The second red ranger had been so quiet the evening before. It didn't make sense. Usually he was the one to come up with an idea or to lighten the situation. Kat had mentioned that the only time she had ever seen Rocky so down was when he was in the hospital just before the kidnapping of Kimberly and Jason. Billy had no idea Rocky felt so deeply for Kim or if there was something more to the equation. At the moment, Rocky was sitting on the floor in the corner, his arms propped on his knees. He wasn't crying now, but the ex blue ranger could see moist on his cheeks reflecting in the light.

Billy pulled his hand out of Kat's grasp and exited the building. He needed fresh air. _No, that's not the whole reason._ He needed to go back to the coffin one more time Billy just hoped that her coffin had not been sealed or even buried yet. He knew he had to get there before he could never gaze upon her angelic face again.

And it was angelic. When he had observed her earlier, he scolded himself for being surprised. She had the battle scars, including long scabs above her right eyebrow from her newest injury. Kimberly's natural beauty had never been more visible than the way she looked then- so peaceful and in bliss.

When he arrived at her coffin, he was surprised to see that it was open, despite being dropped into the ground. He had thought that the man had closed it after the group had commenced their way to the funeral home. Nonetheless, half of the coffin was completely exposed to the summer air.

No one was around to bury her yet. How long did these men take?

The former blue ranger's instincts immediately told him something was up, but what, he did not know. His questions were answered when he reached Kimberly's casket. His jaw dropped dramatically.

What surprised him was that while he was expecting to see his best friends body peacefully lying in oak coffin, he did not. She was nowhere to be seen. There was only a piece of blue parchment placed neatly where her head should have been resting. He picked up the paper and slowly unfolded it. A long letter filled the page…addressed to him. He recognized this handwriting. Which meant…

Kimberly was alive.

* * *

_This place feels so unfamiliar  
__And yet I know it well  
_**I think I used to belong here**

She watched him until he picked up the letter; after he began reading, she walked away snapping a blue leather wristband onto her hand. It had been a gift from Billy before she left for Florida, and she had recently found it in her father's house. He had been the one to keep all her old belongings.

She had wanted to talk to him in person, but knew that she couldn't. He would have to find her if he wanted to talk to her right now. She wasn't ready to confront everyone. Those feelings of betrayal had been hers, but now she felt as if she had betrayed them. She had let her mind become twisted with the anger and hatred of Divatox and power.

They thought she was dead. This time, it was by her hand. She had _thought_ she was going to die the moment her energy had reflected. In fact, Kimberly didn't know why she _hadn't_ passed on. It wasn't as if she was holding on to anything.

All that she knew was that she had been given a second chance to make things right, and she was not going to waste time. The former ranger remembered waking up in the coffin. She had immediately thought that she had passed onto the afterlife, but because of her actions, she was to forever remain on earth and watch all the ones she cared about die. An ultimate punishment.

Then she realized once she had fallen out of the coffin (because she had been so startled) and her knee crashed into the ground that she was alive. _When you're dead, you can't feel right?_

Her eyes rested on her brown backpack hidden at the bottom of a tree. She sorted through it and found what she was looking for- her spell book. For some reason she had an urge to name the book, but she didn't know what. It had been an ingredient in her downfall, but would also be the cause of her revival. They would not notice that it was gone until she was far from here.

As she prepared to exit the cemetery, a gust of wind stopped her. She was there. She could not leave without paying her respects and asking forgiveness. With a deep breath, she turned around and proceeded back towards the graves. Her time in Angel Grove was not up.

It was not hard to find the grave. Kimberly had been there once before but not under these circumstances. She had not been alone that time. Quietly Kimberly kneeled down and maneuvered until she was sitting Indian style. A tear escaped from the corner of her eye. Then others came. It was as if a dam had been lifted. Yet, as the tears cascaded, Kimberly still made no sound.

She reached out to the gray headstone and fingered the rough edges. Taking a deep breath, her lips parted to speak a hoarse whisper that could barely be heard above the soft wind, "I'm so sorry, Trini."

A strained gurgle bubbled out of her mouth followed by a cry out sorrow. Trini had been her best friend. She would _always_ be her best friend. It was as if they were made for each other- to walk in eternity with each other- to never be separated. But life had taken over, and Trini had gone onto a different life in Sweden. The corners of Kimberly's mouth turned slightly upwards at the thought of Trini's good will. The original yellow ranger was the most genuine of them all, and she had been the first to pass on.

In a way, Kimberly was relieved that Trini had not been alive to see her great downfall. It would have broken Trini's heart to see her pink ranger so immoral. Then again, Kimberly also realized that Trini probably knew anyway. She had always been connected spiritually, so why would death be able to stop her from living on earth? It was because of Trini that Kimberly had decided to not stick around in Angel Grove.

Instead, Kimberly would take her new powers and devote them to helping the world. When her mind twisted, she had wanted to end corruption and destroy the evil in human culture, but now she could clearly see that the way she went about everything was wrong and just adding to the problem. In doing so, she had lowered herself so far below what she had tried to stop.

Sadly, she traced the engraving of Trini's name. Her throat swelled. "I didn't even get to say goodbye."

Zordon. At the time of his death, she had been too far gone to care, or so she had thought. She had been to involved with herself to think about anyone else. How could she have been so selfish? The emotions that she had kept hidden, even from her own mind, finally erupted. He had been a good surrogate father when she had not been with her own.

"I promise to take over for you, Zordon. I now devote my life to your cause, to act on the life that you should still be surviving. In this, I will not only restore my honor, I will achieve the peace that you once dedicated your existence to. You had faith in all creatures, and now I will follow your example."

A twig snapped behind her, bringing her out of her trance. Immediately she came out of her reverie and searched for the cause, but she saw nothing save a small squirrel. She looked down and saw that she had subconsciously grabbed her crane necklace. The only reminder of Hygelac. Then, a sandy blond haired man stepped out of the shadows of a tree.

Billy had tears streaming down his cheeks, a sight that not many saw. Kimberly saw more than sorrow in his eyes. She saw betrayal and guilt. It wasn't betrayal for her recent transgressions but for what she had just been about to do. Run away. She saw guilt in his eyes because he blamed himself.

"Why?" Hearing his voice startled her. She had not truly heard his voice, not through her own rational ears, in half a decade. Words could not express the ecstasy of hearing something familiar.

Her eyes returned to the grave, then to the ground. "I guess I'm good at sending letters that bring bad news then disappearing without further explanation."

"But why were you going to leave?" Billy knelt down and while facing Kimberly, sat Indian style beside her. She turned to him and prepared an answer.

With no visible hesitation she replied, "I can't face you guys. Not right now. I can't. There's too much guilt. Too many wounds that might never heal."

"Everyone in that group has dealt with pain equal to this. They will heal and move on like always, Kimber." Billy protested. "You know that."

The small brunette shook her head defiantly. "No, not this time. There are too many scars."

"But others have been evil before." Billy urged. She couldn't keep herself from looking into his deep blue eyes. "Tommy was evil. Kat was evil. Almost every one of us has been turned evil by a spell—"

"I wasn't under a spell! Everything that I have done in the passed six years has been of my own accord. No one ordered me to kill people or to seek you all out to destroy you! No one commanded me to use my powers for evil!" Kimberly cut in. All of the other incidents were not the same. She had not been brainwashed like Karone, Tommy, or Kat. She had been Kimberly Ann Hart.

"Kimberly, that doesn't matter to anyone. It doesn't matter to me." His large and surprisingly soft hands grasped hers. Her gaze dropped down to see their clasped hands. The emptiness seemed to be ebbing away, but his touch still felt wrong. He was with Kat, and Kimberly would not interfere.

"I'm sorry, Billy." The phrase that, for years, had not been uttered seemed to keep slipping from her mouth. She felt that she would never stop apologizing for what she had done. Suddenly, a thought came to mind. "Lot Leeto."

Billy eyed her strangely, and although she knew that he would not completely understand, she explained. "That is what I will call the book. The book has taken me on a hidden journey that I do not think has yet ended. On every journey, one must make choices. I, as you know, have made both wrong and good choices because of this book. Now I plan, to continue the journey that I have started, but instead, seek for peace. That is why I will call the book of spells Lot Leeto, an African name for Hidden Journey."

Kimberly eyed the man sitting next to her in order to see his reaction. Billy remained silent. However, in his silence, she found peace and acceptance. Silent, yet wise, like a wolf.

Her hand fingered the crane amulet once again. "And Hygelac will be Hygelac Lysander from now on. One who is freed."

This time, Billy chose to speak. "Kimberly, I do believe that your wisdom has surpassed all."

The statement surprised her. She had always considered herself…well, not the brightest of the group. She had proof that she was susceptible to almost anything, and she had not been exactly an A student. The former pink ranger had always admired Billy for his intelligent mind. It was something that she considered beautiful. Cautiously, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"You've seen what both sides lead to. You have suffered deaths of loved ones and betrayal of the ones you trusted most. You've committed murder, but you have rescued so many. You've experienced loyalty, passion, love, hate, goodness, evil… We've all grown, but you are the one who has grown the most. The fact that you have taken these experiences and have used them to your knowledge is what makes you wise. In the beginning, I must admit, you were the most shallow of us all. But now, you have more depth than any of the Power Rangers could ever dream to achieve. You would make Dulcea or Zordon proud." Billy finished his appraisal with a slow, steady breath, waiting for her reaction.

All she could give him was a blank stare. He had taken every one of her negative thoughts and turned them positive. Watchfully, she asked, "Billy, how can you be so benevolent? Why do you care whether I'm here or if I go? I would have gladly killed you in a second."

Billy didn't answer right away. She could almost see his mind working, either trying to figure out his reasoning or the right words. "All I know is that I'm better off having you with me, and I could never forgive myself if I let you walk out of my life again."

"How can you be so sure of that? I don't even want to live with myself."

"I don't know how I can be so certain, but I know that I am." He added shortly after another pause, "Will you stay?"

Kimberly tore her eyes away from his and looked up at the sun that was shining brightly. It was amazing how serene nature could make her. The feeling of warmth that the sun gave her was immeasurable and seemed to give her strength. If there was only one good thing that had come out of this whole experience, it was that she now had a strange connection with the environment around her. The power of the sun helped her with what she had to say next. While looking at the great light, she found her answer. She would only stay until the sun disappeared that night. Then she would travel by moonlight to a distant land to act on her promise.

Kimberly smiled casually. "That is something that is not up to me now."

She stood up and reached down for Billy's hand. He willingly took her arm, and she pulled him up. "I'll stay until tonight."

He seemed to understand, despite the grief that he was hiding from her. She knew that he would not openly protest against her wishes. With a goodbye to Trini, they began walking to the funeral home in silence. Before they reached the pathway, however, Billy rested a hand on her arm. She stopped and faced him. "One thing I was wondering was why it took you so long to reappear? You've been gone since 1998. That's six years that you stayed invisible to us all."

Kimberly had often wondered why she had taken so long herself. At the time, she had figured she was just waiting for the right time. "I was waiting for the right time. I didn't want to start something I wasn't willing to finish. I engrossed myself in training my magic and new powers. During these years, when I wasn't training, I was taking care of business with some men, women, and aliens that I knew were corrupt and taking advantage of others. By the time I had completely mastered the majority of my abilities, it had been five years since I disappeared. It took me a while to locate everyone, and I was stuck on Trini. That's when I went to Tommy."

She paused. That wasn't the whole reason, she realized. "And…I guess I hadn't completely crossed over until I killed the first person. I had never killed on the offense before. Only out of self-defense, and even they were aliens that had no heart. These people had hearts, no matter if they chose to use them or not. They had their own minds and friends and families. I knew that it was too late to turn back then. I turned into a sort of zombie-like creature. I went with the motions, passionate about what I was doing, but completely detached from the justification of it. Little did I realize what I was doing to myself. I had made myself completely hollow. No emotions other than anger and revenge."

During her speech, they had begun their walk again and were now at the door. She took a deep breath, refusing to let the panicky emotions surface. Billy glanced at her before opening the door, waiting for some sign of permission. After taking another deep breath, she nodded silently. Kimberly grasped the crane amulet and thought of the passed six years of her life. "I'm ready for anything now."

* * *

_Hey guys, (wow, this is so lame. I don't know where to begin.)_

_Surprise! I'm still alive. I guess you're probably not laughing right now._

_I felt that I should explain, just in case someone was to stop by the coffin and didn't automatically assume that my body had been napped again. Trust me, I'm not that wanted in other planets or anything._

_You're wondering how this could be possible. I'm not even sure myself why I was spared a horrible punishment. I've done so many things to not only you guys, my best friends and family, but to people throughout the universe. I am so sorry for that. I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself. I feel so stupid for letting Divatox's ways take over me._

_I know that others have been through similar experiences, but they have never been the person to decide the fate of another's. Yet, they still feel guilty for their services on the dark side. No matter what he says, I know that Tommy still goes to a quiet spot to meditate like he once did by the lake. And no, it's not just for achieving a calm sense of mind, but to also center his emotions and guilt about being evil once. Kat wishes that she could have been stronger and stood against Rita sooner. Billy wonders what might have happened had we all chosen the evil clone and not him. And, Karone, who is the only one who can truly understand, has felt exactly the way I do since the moment that she woke up in Andros's arms. Andros, I know that you still feel guilty for Zordon's fate. It was his own choice, and it's only human to think "What if…" _

_I'm leaving because I need time alone to settle my own thoughts. If I were around everyone, I know I'd be overwhelmed with everyone's sympathy and for their constant reaching out to me. Don't deny it. I was once like that myself. But that's not what I need. I don't need sympathy or pity from anyone. I wouldn't be able to separate my own feelings from everyone else's if I was continuously bombarded by their comfort. That's not who I am anymore._

_And please, even though I am alive and kicking, don't take…**it**… down. The original one, I mean. Kimberly Ann Hart is dead. We're two different people now. No matter how hard I try, I could never be her again. Try to understand where I am coming from. I'm not being bitter or emo. Don't feel horrible for following my request._

_Someday I will return. Right now, I have my own duties to take care of. I won't go into any more detail; I know that one of you will just _try_ looking for me. Please don't. If I need you, I will contact you if at all possible. I really hope that you will be able to forgive me. Remember that I love you and you are all in my heart._

_Thank you for not giving up on me. I know that I can always count on you- all of you._

_Much love (always)_

_Kim_

* * *

**If you cannot bear the silence and the darkness, do not go there; if you dislike black night and yawning chasms, never make them your profession. If you fear the sound of water hurrying through crevices toward unknown and mysterious destinations, do not consider it. Seek out the sunshine. It is a simple prescription. Avoid the darkness.**

**It is a simple prescription, but you will not follow it. You will turn immediately to the darkness. You will be drawn to it by cords of fear and of longing. You will imagine that you are tired of the sunlight; the waters that unnerve you will tug in the ancient recesses of your mind; the midnight will seem restful- you will end by going down.**

**Loren Eiseley The Night Country**

* * *

mmk, ultimate disclaimer and credit...thing

-The spells, save one about cloning I think, were alleither based offsomespells used in the WB TV show Charmed or completely from the show. I got them from a websiteby typing "charmed spells"in a google search bar

-power rangers is definitely not mine.

All righty, like I promised: responses:)

As all of you know, this is the last chapter. I am thinking of continuing this universe. However, I'm not sure if I'll have the time or drive to do so. If I did, it'd be a few months and probably completely different than what happened here and not focusing entirely on Kim either. Tell me what you think!

**the online dreamer- **oh ye of little words. I love your comments! Thanks for sticking around throughout the development of this story. And I really do love your username. I am definitely a dreamer as well. Never change! Dreamers are cool. Haha :)

**IsabellaPaige**- Well, you got your wish! She was saved! Isn't it sad how she was mad that she was always a damsel in distress and the moment she becomes something huge, she needs to be saved yet again? Thank you for sticking around as well. I hope that this chapter didn't disappoint you! 

**Daniaryezel- **I was going for visualization, so I'm thrilled that you liked it and it was easy for you to picture. I've always admired and tried to achieve that type of writing. Although, I cannot stand it when authors put in _too_ much detail, so I hope that I didn't do that.

**karone-sakura- **hah, It took me about a month this time. Is that too long? ;) Sorry that I didn't get it out sooner, but I was a tad sad to end it. And I was trying to figure out which ending I wanted to stick with. You see, I had three endings running through my head, but I wasn't sure which one to go with. I ended up with this one, but I might change it later on if I decide to write the others.

**C2**- Of course I didn't forget about the story! It haunted me for months before I wrote it, so I wouldn't dream of pocketing it before it was finished. Thanks for encouraging me to end it though.  Don't worry about the TKness. There's just no room for romance in this story. I considered it early on, but then my fingers ran away with the story and Billy ended up with Kat. Then Jason ended up calling her a little sister, and Tommy realized he didn't think that the love he held for her was the same. On the other hand, I would never write a TK just because I am so annoyed with the "Tommy Oliver" persona. "The best ranger ever"? Psh. I can think of better. He just can't move on with his life.

**Funky in Fishnet**- you know what your username reminds me of now? Have you ever read the British series that starts with _Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging_? The screen name reminds me of something the main character would say. Anyway, Kim turned back! She's not completely healed, but she'll get there. I hope that this is satisfactory.

**Taeniaea- **Thanks! I hope this was soon enough!

**freestyler2**- I love new readers! I just wish we could have "met" before the story ended. Mais, c'est la vie. Thanks for reading; I'm glad that you enjoyed the story. Thanks for all the reviews, especially to the ones who kept coming back. They really kept me going! I'd name them all, but I'd have to go back through the review page and haven't figured out any other way to do it. Hah.

Everyone- Thanks for reading my story! The reviews really kept me going, even when I had no motivation to write at all. I hope that I can talk to you again through possibly another story sometime later. Or perhaps through one of yours!

Much love,  
rembrandt


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